It is safe to say that 2020 is the year of social unrest, part of which the “defund the police” movement. The reason why this movement emerged was the police brutality towards people of color. The death of George Floyd became the trigger that prompted many people to protest and criticize the police (MacNeill, 2020). This work aims to explore the meaning of “defunding the police” and arguments and counterarguments surrounding this initiative.
The Meaning of “Defunding the Police” and Its Relation to Police Brutality, Corruption and Mismanagement
It can be said that “defunding the police” has two meanings. It means the complete abolition of police funding and the disbandment of the entire police institution. The second meaning is cutting the police budget and reallocating funds to create new independent militia-like law enforcement entities. “Defunding the police” originated from “defund the police,” which is a public slogan that emerged and was popularized as a reaction to the police brutality towards the Black people (MacNeill, 2020). The very existence of such a phenomenon as police brutality is a symptom of corruption and mismanagement in the police institution.
Arguments for Defunding the Police
One of the arguments for defunding the police is that it is a dysfunctional institution. Put differently, the police spread violence and act as a threat, especially to people of color, although it was created as a system to stop the violence and keep the communities safe. According to Zerkel (2020), “despite the billions of dollars spent every year on policing, more than 15,000 people were killed by gun violence in 2019 alone — disproportionately young people of color” (para. 10). Therefore, the police, being a dysfunctional institution, must be reorganized through partial defunding or abolished entirely.
Another argument for defunding the police is that the police have discredited themselves and lost public trust. The researchers note that “when communities experience over-enforcement of minor infractions and under-protection from violence, trust in law enforcement plummets” (Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence, 2020, p. 2). In order to restore trust in the police institution in the eyes of society, it is necessary to carry out a significant reform, which is the redistribution of police funding to create oversight organizations.
Arguments against Defunding the Police
There are also valid arguments against defining the police here. One of them is that defunding and abolishing the police would lead to an increase in violence and crime (Johnson & Gagliano, 2020). It is worth mentioning that there was not a single complex society without police or a similar law enforcement entity in human history. There were “politia” in Ancient Greece and the “Cohortes Urbanae” in the Roman Empire who performed police functions (“Ancient police compared to today’s police,” 2019). The abolition of the police or even its defunding would lead to tragic consequences. Moreover, some experts believe that the police’s money should not be cut but directed at creating more rigorous and community-oriented training programs for police officers (Johnson & Gagliano, 2020). It would improve fair police officers’ professional skills, identify unsuitable candidates, and punish those who abuse their powers.
Conclusion
The author of this paper explores the essence of “defunding the police” and why it should or should not be done. It has been found that people think that the police should be defunded because it is a dysfunctional institution that has discredited itself. Opponents of “defunding the police” believe that this will lead to a spike in crime and that it would be much better to spend police funding to standardize the training programs of police officers.
References
Ancient police compared to today’s police. (2019). Central Alarm Inc. Web.
Giffords Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence. (2017). In pursuit of peace: building police-community trust to break the cycle of violence. Web.
Johnson, J. C., & Gagliano, J. A. (2020). Defunding the police isn’t the answer. CNN. Web.
MacNeill, A. (2020). Should Boston defund its police? Here’s what Marty Walsh said. Boston.com. Web.
Zerkel, M. (2020). 6 reasons why it’s time to defund the police. American Friends Service Committee. Web.