In the light of current events, the aspect of defunding police departments are coming to the forefront.
According to an article in Forbes on June 4th,2020.
-Some politicians are listening: the Los Angeles Police Department was set to receive a large increase in its annual budget from $1.189 billion last year to $1.86 billion (most of the budget increases were for new police bonuses) for 2020-2021 before Garcetti axed that move Wednesday, cutting $100-$150 million — only after activists rallied outside of his home.
-In New York, more than 40 city council candidates are calling for a $1 billion cut to the NYPD’s $6 billion budget over four years to help fund other programs such as the city’s summer youth employment program.In cities such as Minneapolis, Dallas, Philadelphia, and Nashville, similar movements are gaining traction.
MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) – Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council announced their support for de-funding the Minneapolis Police Department and replacing it with a community-based public safety model at a rally in Powderhorn Park Sunday afternoon.
Patrisse Cullors, co-founder of the Black Lives Matter movement, said defunding the police means reallocating those funds to support people and services in marginalized communities.
Defunding law enforcement “means that we are reducing the ability for law enforcement to have resources that harm our communities,” Cullors said in an interview with WBUR, Boston’s public radio station. “It’s about reinvesting those dollars into black communities, communities that have been deeply divested from.”
Those dollars can be put back into social services for mental health, domestic violence and homelessness, among others. Police are often the first responders to all three, she said.
Does anyone know what that means or how it is implemented.
Ward 3 member Steve Fletcher in Minneapolis says it would look like this…
County mental health professionals sent to mental health calls, not police officers.
– Using fire department EMTs to respond to opioid overdose calls.
– The use of “unarmed, community-oriented street teams” on weekend nights downtown “to focus on de-escalation.”
– Traffic enforcement turned over to cameras and potentially parking enforcement teams.
– And while there was no specific reference made to plans for handling violent crime, Fletcher says the council would “invest in cultural competency and mental health training, de-escalation and conflict resolution.”
The downside according to The Los Angeles Police Protective League, the union for the city’s rank-and-file officers, is that budget cuts would be the “quickest way to make our neighborhoods more dangerous.”
“Cutting the LAPD budget means longer responses to 911 emergency calls, officers calling for back-up won’t get it, and rape, murder and assault investigations won’t occur or will take forever to initiate, let alone complete,” the union’s board said in a statement last week.
At the moment, Minneapolis is the leader in this movement.
Nine members of the Minneapolis City Council have expressed support for defunding the city’s police force, forming a veto-proof majority of the council’s twelve seats.The nine members announced their support at a Sunday rally with community activist groups and signed a pledge to dismantle the department. The council will “abolish the Minneapolis Police system as we know it,” Council Member Alondra Cano said at the announcement. Council Member Jeremiah Ellison concurred, saying “This council is going to dismantle this police department.”
We must digress due to some concerns we have in this approach. We can see non violence infractions, being handled without an uptick in harm. But if the city handles most of the traffic violations with cameras, who is going to enforce people pay the fines. We see a substantial number of these fines never getting paid.
In the other lane moving a great deal faster are the violent crimes
With a violent crime rate of 1,063 reported incidents for every 100,000 residents, nearly three times the corresponding national rate, Minneapolis is one of the most dangerous cities in the country. In 2015, 47 murders were reported. The poverty rate was reported at 22.6 percent and the unemployment rate, 3.3 percent.Jan 17, 2019.
Add in the fact that murder rates doubled from 2018 to 2019.
How does this not escalate a dramatic increase in the above numbers.
Minneapolis is infamously known for “pack Hunting”. Packs of teens begin their late-night hunts in downtown Minneapolis, looking for lone drunks, people distracted by cell phones, prey that won’t fight back.
One person will strike up a conversation with a target. A moment later, the victim will be jumped, punched, and kicked into the pavement by the others.
While the crime itself may be small and ugly, the price to downtown Minneapolis grows higher. Robberies are up 53 percent this year in central downtown. In one 20-day stretch last month, 47 people were attacked. Much of that figure is attributable to pack hunters.
So Minneapolis police sent three dozen cops to do some hunting of their own. They bagged 16 suspects. Half were juveniles, one a mere 13. Police believe some were responsible for multiple robberies, and the attacks seem to have at least temporarily subsided.
Those are just two examples,We don’t have the room and you don’t have time to keep going on this.
What needs to be done, is that you the american citizen need to contact your Senate and Congress and voice your concern.
Tell them you are putting them on notice. You can go to the right of any page here and find the “For More Info” button. Click and go to your state. You will find district maps and contact information for all Senators and Congress.
The future of this great country is in your hands.
As the old saying goes “let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water “
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