Defund the Police! Why Not? Because!

94% of 1500 Democrats surveyed who are college students said Defund the Police. Yes, Defund the campus police at USC and every university in poor neighborhoods. Defund the campus police who investigate sexual assaults on campus. Defund the campus police who have to handle violent, drunk, and drug induced violent students. Defund the campus police who would be the first responders on campus shooters. Defund the campus police. See how long that lasts! Where do these clueless students get their wisdom? From faculty, the internet, and social media. Justice Louis Brandeis once wrote “States are the laboratories of democracy.” Today it might be a few progressive cities, led by Minneapolis., Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Chicago and New York. Defund the police? The killing of George Floyd by Officer Derek Chauvin hit America in the gut. Cries for reform and justice justifiably rang out throughout the country A few simple reforms would reduce excessive force. Ban chokeholds and other pressures on the neck and back, Require officers to take action to prevent illegal conduct by fellow officers, transparency on the use of force, and disclosures of misconduct investigations. Require bodycams to be ON. The Los Angeles Sheriff’s Office still does not have bodycams for the deputies. Turning off the body cam in an incident should create a presumption of excessive force. Another reform, receiving little attention today, is restricting the use of the baton/nightstick/billyclub. Videos showed officers wildly swinging their nightsticks at protestors or rioters. A close friend, a San Francisco Police Officer, told me decades ago that officers should keep both hands on the nightstick. Officers swinging their nightsticks with one hand project an image of being wildly out of control. That certainly seemed the case during the riots. A more difficult problem is removing bad cops from the force because of provisions in the employment contract between the communities and police unions. Removing an officer absent a felony is difficult; so too with similar union contracts protecting teachers. Yet, bad cops, such as Derek Chauvin with 18 incidents in 19 years, should not carry a badge and gun. Defund the Police! Let’s start with eliminating the police protection of governors and mayors: Governor Newsom of California and Governor Cuomo of New York, and Mayors Eric Garcetti, of LA, New York City’s Mayor Bill De Blasio, Philadelphia’s Jimmy Kenney, San Francisco’s London Breed, Oakland’s Libby Schaaf, and Boston’s Marty Walsh. Why not Speaker Pelosi as well? Does Joe Biden really need Secret Service protection in his basement? Do we defund the Sheriff’s Department, School Police, Housing Police, and Transit Police? They all have badges and guns. Defunding the transit police is not going to improve security on the New York City subway system. Defunding the police is a counter-intuitive solution to rising crime rates, but that’s what you expect from a dolt like Mayor De Blasio of New York City. That also speaks poorly of the mayors and council members who are blinded by politics. The New York City crime rates have soared under Mayor De Blasio. His solution is to cut $1 billion from the police budget. Police shootings in New York City have substantially declined from 810 in 1971 to 72 in 2016. Deaths dropped from 93 to 23. Even one wrongful killing, be it by a shooting or chokehold, is one too many. Black Lives Matter arose in the outcome of police killings. All black lives matter, including the lives that will be lost, sexually assaulted or mugged without police to enforce the law. We know without police crime will explode in the inner cities. Chicago from May 29-31 witnessed 23 homicides out of 84 shooting incidents. New York City, DE Blasio’s pride and joy, had 55 shootings with 74 wounded from June 15-21, compared to 18 shootings last year. Not one was by police! The numbers are rising from a mere 100 in May, the first time in five years. Baltimore has seen 159 homicides to date, ahead of last year’s pace. Detroit is up 30% so far this year to 129 killings. Defunding, dismantling, demonizing. decimating the police will not solve the inner city problems of crime, dropouts, drugs, failing schools, joblessness, payday loans, and single parents. The only argument for defunding the police is the recognition the police have been defanged, handcuffed, neutered, and paralyzed by politicians and judges. Officers stood by and watched looting in Minneapolis, Santa Monica, Long Beach, and elsewhere. A judge in Denver said no tear gas, no rubber bullets. Seattle’s mayor said no tear gas, pepper spray or flash bombs. The Minneapolis and Seattle mayors let the mobs seize police stations. When they arrest looters, they’re back on the streets in 3 hours in NYC while the social justice DA’s of St. Louis County and Philadelphia refuse to prosecute. The Defund Police advocates have no clear, viable alternatives. Mayors, such as New York’s De Blasio, ran on an anti-police platform. Let us recognize that the mayors, city councils, and governors of these states believe police are the problem, always the problem. Anything to deflect attention away from their incompetence. If the police are not permitted to do their job, why do we have them? If police are not allowed to use non-violent force, then the only alternative is violent force. That is not a legal or realistic use of force in many situations. The police were simply not going to mow down the rioters. Yes, let’s get rid of the police, until we need them! Andrea Mitchell and D.C. Representative Eleanor Holmes Jordan were talking in the new D.C. Black Lives Matter street a week ago, when a crazed woman came running at them. One of the two, the witnesses differ, screamed out “Where are the Police when you need them?” They will not be anywhere in some of these cities. Minneapolis council members have received death threats, an unfortunate phenomenon in today’s wired world for celebrities, public figures, and public officials. Most of them are probably specious, but the threatened should take them seriously. The City of Minneapolis has now hired private security three council members at a daily cost of $4,500 for the taxpayers. The City explained the Minneapolis Police were needed elsewhere in the city. Where? Doing what? The rhetoric is leading indirectly to defunding the police. An increasing number of officers are resigning or retiring, up 49% in New York City. Police take an oath to serve and protect, but that gets frustrating, and even impossible, when the ones you serve and protect, are trying to defund you My suggestion is to defeat the mayors and council members in the cities that defang the police. Put it up to a vote by the people. If they vote to defund the police, they can live with the consequences.