Activists make some very interesting points regarding city funding.
Funding for the NYPD has increased over the years and giving them all of that extra funding hasn't made the city safer or a better place to live. They are calling for some of the department's funding to be reallocated to other sectors like social services, education and healthcare. The idea is that, by investing in poverty stricken neighborhoods, crime will be reduces without the need of so much money spent on police and prisons and more of the youth will grow up to become happy, healthy, well adjusted, productive members of society.
The only point that I disagree with them on is their call to reduce funding for cadet classes. I think officers need more training, not less.
I hope their activism is successful. It's worth a try.
1
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
1 comment
Feel free to reply to any comment by clicking the "Reply" button.I agree, it's not a radical idea.
The problem people have with it is not (or would not be) the concept, it's the label. "Defunding the police" is just a horribly unfortunate phrase to have landed upon for this idea. To people who don't look any deeper into it- in other words, about 70% of people, and 100% of the right wing- it still sounds like a call for getting rid of the entire budgets of all police departments, everywhere. I know, and you know, and anyone who actually looks at the proposals knows, that the idea is much more complicated and subtle than that, and that it's an idea geared toward helping the police do a better job, not do less of a job; but right now we're the exception.
(On a side note- isn't it ironic that the same people who like to say you can't solve social problems by throwing money at them, seem to think you can solve the crime problem by throwing money at it?)
Thing is, I can't think of a different slogan that gets the idea across- which probably indicates that any idea you can put on a sign and wave around is too complex to actually reduce to slogan form, put on a sign, and wave around.
Paul4747
Level 8
Dec 4, 2020
0
That is pretty ironic. They are okay with spending money to fix social issues as long as the money goes toward destructive activities rather than anything that will actually help people. It is a sick mentality.
To me, defund the police is the perfect slogan. I keep hearing people say that it's very bad branding and that it hurts politicians in elections and I like to point out that the only person who actually ran on that slogan, won her seat. I think it's a good thing that it's provocative. That gets it more attention and makes it harder to ignore. I think those who find it scary or refuse to look any deeper, those who assume that it means abolishing the police, wouldn't vote our way anyway. The more exposure the concept gets, the more people will learn about it, even if it sounds crazy when they first hear it.
I've heard many other slogans suggested. All of them are too specific. Like demilitarize the police, end police brutality, end racism in the force... None of those communicate the critical aspect which is to spread the funding to other sectors to reduce the duties of police officers and give those tasks to people who are better able to handle them which will lead to better outcomes.
If someone comes up with something better, I'm all for it.
@Zoltans_Queen I guess it depends on the district or locality you're in. I'm sure it does help in the large urban areas. But speaking from personal knowledge (which is all I can do), in a smaller city in the middle of a rural area, it hurts the liberals. It just confirms the stereotype of anti-police, rioters and looters that the Republicans lied so effectively about this year.
I understand we can't be held responsible for ignorant idiots believing lies. But I hate to see us feeding into them.
Enjoy being online again!
Welcome to the community of good people who base their values on evidence and appreciate civil discourse - the social network you will enjoy.Create your free account
Share this post
Categories
Agnostic does not evaluate or guarantee the accuracy of any content. Read full disclaimer.