That makes a lot of sense. Thanks

I live in Philly but 5 minutes from Camden. The situation was different and I don't have to Google it.

@barjoe Different from what?

@Sticks48 You said to Google Camden. Don't have to, I live here, I'm familiar with the Camden case. First of all they were taken over by the state. The entire force resigned en masse. They had transition law enforcement while they reorganized, rehired and trained a force. Wasn't a defunding project. Camden is a smaller city 80K, Twin Cities like 1 million people. I'm not saying it can't be done, I'm saying the cities are different. .

@barjoe The former and present Police Chief in Camden was on TV today. He said they were all fired including himself. That busted up the union and they turned the whole thing over to the county and rebuilt from their. It seems to be successful with a very large drop in crime. Murders are down like 95%. Must have been a bad place.

@Sticks48 High crime, gang violence and severe opioid crisis, which is still a problem in Camden. That was former CPD Commissioner Scott Thomson. The new department is Camden Country Metro Police their Chief is a man named Joe Wysocki. The circumstances are different for City of Camden than any prospective reorganization in the city of Minneapolis. It's not an identical model.

@barjoe An interesting approach though.

Okay I can see the benefit, but Minneapolis is a huge city,. The police don’t just write tickets, there’s on going investigations, court proceedings that require police testimony, criminals who could and would run rampant even if you substitute the National guard. They don’t have the same training to handle city crimes. It doesn’t seem feasible.

You are probably too young to remember most police cars carrying the words, "Protect & Serve"

@AnneWimsey I'm old enough to know slogans generally a type of propaganda or advertising and to be skeptical of them

Police are more than protectors of public safety. If we defund the police who has the training to investigate crimes, who do we call when a child is being abused. Social workers need evidence to take a child from their families, and social workers are not trained to be investigators. Who do we call when we see a drunk driver? Who do we call when we’ve been rapped? Or mugged? What about all the ongoing court cases that require police testimony ?

@paul1967 Police in their current form are inappropriate people to deal with child abuse, drug usets, people acting out from mental health issues, or even traffic stops. Traffic patrol could be done by a much lesser less militarized person. All those other things are much better handled by someone much closer to.a social worker type situation. Police do more harm than good with their in charge rather than there to help and fix image. I feel like the public would be better served and safer with a much different approach.

@MsAl ummmm, it was a Concept, like "Innocent until proven guilty"...ever hear of that? You think that cops should be Judge, Jury, & Executioner?

@MsAl, @paul1967 your concept of DCYS workers is seriously Wrong! They are investigators, and they have specially trained interviewers to get the info from traumatized kids! Cops in most places are Forbidden to interview young victims lest they lead the witness & taint the evidence/narrative.

@AnneWimsey I guess I see "To serve and protect" as pro police propoganda. A nice goal but not necessarily reality.

I don't see "Innocent untill proven guilty" as a slogan but more of a description of the law.

@AnneWimsey That’s not exactly true everywhere. Large cities usually have specialized police investigators for crimes against children.

LA police have several departments to deal with child abuse. The Child Protection Section was formed as specific needs to protect children. The section is comprised of the Abused Child Unit, the Sexually Exploited Child Unit, and most recently the Investigative Control Unit. The Abused Child Unit was founded in 1974 and became the first investigative unit of its kind in the nation to dedicate specially trained officers to investigate child abuse. Today, officers investigate allegations of child physical or sexual abuse when it is suspected that the parent or legal guardian is responsible. They also investigate undetermined deaths of children under the age of 11 years and child homicides.

@OwlInASack I don’t deny that some cops are crooked, and a lot of reform needs to occur, most importantly this unwritten rule that cops don’t snitch on cops. I also support defunding cops in small towns where crooked cops are running things. I don’t think you can defund a city the size of Minneapolis besides defunding isn’t the only solution and it’s not even the best solution given the size of Minneapolis. Restructuring, firing, retraining and policy changes can correct the problem.

@MsAl one is actually in our Constitution/Bill of Rights, one is a concept that used to be the goal, in my lifetime.

@MsAl I think your making a blanket statement. I agree we have a police problem, but the vast majority of police are good cops. The big problem is cop culture, no cop good or bad rats out another cop according to all my cop friends. If you do, the next time you need backup nobody will come. That’s what we need to deal with.

@AnneWimsey I looked it up and it's an unofficial slogan that was painted on some cars.but not all, and still on some. Mostly in LA.

I'm not sure exactly how old you are but if the time period you are refering to includes the anti drug wars or broken glass theory of policing or the civil rights era... well I think the nice slogan was covering up brutality and damage that were destructive to society and mainly included bullying poor people. I don't think today's police are somehow worse than they were before. It's just that in this moment people are calling them.out and it has actually become part of the conversation.