How about “Redefine Policing” Rather than “Defund the Police”?

Let’s Get Rid of the Slogan “Defund the Police”

 

Whoever came up with the slogan “Defund the Police” wasn’t thinking strategically.

 

“Redefine Policing” is a far better slogan because it considers everyone’s best interests.

 

Consider this insightful cartoon Exhibit One

in my defense of the slogan change.

 

The police are trained to quell imminently dangerous situations, to protect people from the actions of others who pose threats.

 

Very few of the other services they perform require force. But too many aggrieved or fearful individuals call them, expecting them to fix something that isn’t even in their wheelhouse to fix. And they arrive ready to attack.

 

(I know. When a homeless man with dementia made himself comfortable on my sister’s front porch, we called the police and they arrived like a SWAT team, weapons drawn and shouting obscenities at the poor fellow.)

 

Alas! I suppose that by off-loading the less potentially lethal services, police forces will only attract people who like the adrenaline rush of smashing heads and shooting people, which wouldn’t be a good thing.

 

But at least they’d be confined to truly unusual and dangerous incidents, where people’s lives are on the line.

 

Other service providers trained in their respective fields would handle the rest: homelessness, drug addiction, prostitution, anger management, depression, attempted suicide, etc.  And yes, there would be times when police backup would be required, when an individual’s precarious state of mind made them a danger to themselves or others.

 

But, in most cases, things could be brought back to an even keel without side orders of machismo, racism, misogyny, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. People would be treating people in crisis like people in crisis, instead of foreign enemies or invading pests.

 

I’m not anti-police. I’m anti-bigoted police, anti-social police.  Being a police officer can be a lot like being a hammer. Hammers are designed to pound, not to persuade.

 

I expect police forces to serve and protect. I expect them to be heroes for all races, colors and creeds. As a white kid, I was never warned about policemen and women: I was  encouraged to trust them, to seek them out and ask for help if I ever got lost or scared.

 

That isn’t what families of color tell their kids about police officers.  They’ve had a different experience with them than I ever have, or that the rest of my white family ever has.

 

Just ask a person of color about their experiences and about what they have to tell their kids to keep them alive when police officers stop them. It’s a whole different world when you’re black or brown or red or yellow.

 

So, I think “defund the police” is a terrible slogan. It makes us think of the racist, crooked scoundrels whose actions don’t serve the law as much as they serve their own twisted agendas.  Most police officers aren’t like that. 

 

Instead, “Redefine Policing” takes a bunch of necessary-but-miscellaneous stuff off police officers’ plates, so the money they do get can be directed to finding stellar recruits with good ethics and diverse backgrounds and training them to respond appropriately to fast-changing situations.

 

I’m all for funding the police adequately, just as I’m all for funding the military adequately. But both of these forces (emphasis on FORCES) are terribly over-funded for the type of services they’re expected to provide.  We’ve turned them into Terminators at the expense of civilization. Too many have become mindless hammers looking for people to pound on, whether they deserve it or not.

 

It’s time to civilize civilization. If we don’t, there’s no future.

 

People who incite fear and paranoia as a general rule help no one.