SOUND OFF! 7/10/21

The recent conviction of Derek Chauvin could be a turning point in how this country handles law enforcement. Ever since Floyd’s tragic, needless death last year, people of all colors have been marching in the street, shouting “Black lives matter!” and putting the slogan on display. The Floyd case was like the straw that broke the camel’s back. Anger over white cops unjustly killing people of color finally reached the boiling point.

One crusade currently underway is “defund the police.” The intent is to reduce spending on police departments – as well as end militarization of police – and divert those monies to community services that will ease the burden currently on blue shoulders. The problem with “defund the police” is it sounds as though people are calling for the abolition of police departments. That would be a mistake – a BIG mistake – because, like it or not, we need law enforcement. Conservative pundits are using the phrase as a weapon against BLM and other progressive/liberal movements, claiming that left-wingers all hate police.

The real problem isn’t rotten cops. The real problem is the foundation on which police departments in this country have been built. Our police departments grew out of vigilante organizations that hunted down runaway slaves before the Civil War and intimidated people of color afterwards. Long after the Civil Rights movement, that undercurrent of “keeping the n****rs in their place” still runs through U.S. constabularies today.

Police officers have a tough and often under-appreciated job. They feel a great deal of pressure to perform well – not so much from civilians as from their fellow officers. All too often, people who try to be good cops, to truly protect and serve, find themselves ostracized by their fellow officers. Qualified immunity and the police code of silence allow corruption, as well as racism and other forms of bigotry, to flourish behind the badge. Increase militarization of police forces makes them less guardians of public safety and maintainers of order, and more brutal oppressors.

Police and their defenders talk about the “thin blue line” between an orderly society and anarchic chaos. These people mean well, and like it or not they do have a point – but they are out of touch with reality. Knee-jerk defenders of the police are largely white and well-off so they don’t have to worry about police brutality. They don’t have to worry about being pulled over or shot because they have the “wrong” skin color.

Training of police officers is one thing that definitely needs to be overhauled. Barbers must go through more hours of training than cops. Seriously? Cutting hair is more involved than protecting the public? Also, police training does not include enough de-escalation or non-lethal techniques, which would prevent a lot of tragedies.

“Defund the police” does not mean getting rid of police departments – it actually means less money for police departments and more for public programs that will take many burdens off the shoulders of cops. More funding of mental health care, and training and providing people who can handle mental health intervention, means that civilians can call these specialists instead of the police; not only is there far less chance of a tragic outcome, but the cops can focus on doing what cops are supposed to do.

Many ways to improve our society will have an indirect positive impact on police. More affordable housing means fewer homeless people. Paying everybody a living wage makes crime less tempting. Access to affordable health care, including mental health, means that cops don’t have to intervene when the neighborhood wacko runs amok for the umpteenth time. Legalizing, or at least decriminalizing, street drugs reduces officers’ workload.

Newark, NJ completely revamped its police department after an investigation in July of 2014 revealed a “pattern and practice of unconstitutional policing.” The city tore down its police department completely and built a new one from the ground up. The result? There was not one police-involved shooting in the city in 2020. Not one. NOT ONE. Granted, a lot of people were staying inside due to the COVID-19 pandemic; however, remember that there were plenty of shootings by police that year, as well as numerous acts of police brutality, including the death of George Floyd.

If Newark can do it, so can your city. So can Chicago. So can New York City. So can Los Angeles. So can Houston. So can Atlanta. So can Detroit. So can Kansas City. So can Seattle. So can Wichita. So can your home city. Reforming the police is the best way, and probably the only way, to restore public confidence in law enforcement.