“Defund the Police”

“Defund the Police” 

Recently, the debate “Defund the Police” has been a widespread reconvening public outcry in the whole of United States.  This slogan originated from the “Black Lives Matter” activists and the police reform advocates, and it appears to be becoming more rampant among the politicians, mayors, and municipal councils. Instead of funding the police who are using excesive force on Blacks and mistreating civilians, we should  defund the police since defunding the police will provide room for resources to be utilized in other important programes such as education and health care. Currently, a debate is ongoing on whether we should defund the police or not. "Defund the police" is a term used to mean reallocating or redirecting funding that is found in the police department to other organizations that are funded by the municipalities. Therefore, defunding is not abolishing policing as many might think. Many people want to see the rotten acts of policing being chopped down and other roots replanted. Defunding the police is used in reducing the violence and crime taking place in the police. The current paper makes arguments based on a given debate “American Police Reform” on the motion to defund the police. The debaters are Paul Butler who is on the side of yes, we should defund the police, Jason Johnson who is on the side of no, Rafael Mangual who is against the motion that we should not defund the police, Sue Rahr who argues that it depends on what does “Defund the police” implies, and Vikrant Reddy who is against the motion. This paper presents a debate on why should defund the police. 

According to Paul Butler, the public outcry of defunding the police came from the slogan “Black Lives Matter” after police brutality on blacks was on the rise and the death of George Floyd.  As such, he believes that millions of dollars that are used to fund the police should instead be reallocated to other programs in the community that can the community safer (Butler,00:00:00 – 00:01:29). Instead of allocating federal, state, and local government funds to “policing and incarnation,” the funds should be directed to long-term strategies of education, restorative justice services, and employment programs. For instance, in Chicago, the “#NoCopAcademy campaign” funded thousands of community members and as a result, got more than 100 community organizations supporters in urging the city to shift funding for a new $ 95 million police academy and direct the funds to a program that will be of benefit the youth and the communities. Butler believes funds used to fund police academy can be used to save most lives in the community. Such funds can be used in funding health care workers to reinforce response to mental health emergencies instead of the police. Police defunding also means shifting our resources to transformative justice approaches that will play a huge role in supporting survivors and directly work with the person who has engineered the harm through community-based systems of accountability. Such models would make the community work together to keep each other safe. 

On the contrary, a lot of workload is placed on the shoulders of the police force and thus, they end up overworked and overstressed. Rafael Mangual who is against the motion believes defunding the police force means reducing the capacity of how much the police workforce has to work and as a result will be an inconvenience to the police unit (Mangual, 00:00:00 – 00:01:29). This also means that training support will be reduced.  A lot of police-involved violence issues arise as a result of officers not properly getting trained on when and how to use their equipment. This portrays that defunding will take away the resources that are required to make sure police get proper training on things such as the use of force continuum and de-escalation.   Good policing will need a commitment to robust training that should be given to the police unit through funding from both federal. State and local government. Additionally, lowering or completely defund the police will lower the budget that will act as a hindrance recruitment of and retention of police officers. This will consequently lower the number of police officers to keep our streets and communities safe. This will as well add more workload to the current police workforce making them struggle thus, forcing some to quit or perform their duties ineffectively because they are burned out.   

Also, Jason Johnson who against the motion of defunding the police argues that the police unit is an irreplaceable component for public safety (Johnson, 00:00:00 – 00:01:29). He believes defunding the police will mean disrupting the police workforce which will consequently result in inconveniences to the police force. Such inconveniences might even result in the end of the police unit in America. The most compelling reason in regard to police defunding is that bad actors and lawbreakers will freely roam in our cities and communities and put everyone to harm. This shows that it will be a bad idea if we defund the police force.  Police units in our cities and communities ensure that our streets, cities, and communities are drug-free zone, free of violence, domestic abuse, and myriad other threats to the United States' way of life. Currently, it might appear hard to realize the consequences of defunding the police, however, after it’s after defunding is when we will be able to realize the impacts. It is important to note that no other branch of government can perform the job being done by our police force. 

While based on Sue Rahr, she argues that if police defunding means cutting funds to the police workforce she is against the motion, however, if it implies that the funds getting diverted to social services such as education and healthcare services, she strongly supports the motion (Rahr, 00:00:00 – 00:01:29). Instead, completely stopping funding the police unit, these funds should be used to support other social services in the community that will be helpful because police officers don’t solve all the problems, they are called to help but social services can play a huge role in making our communities safer. It is estimated that United States cities collectively spend $100 billion every year on policing, while education, health care, housing, and other critical programs go unfulfilled, especially in poor communities and communities of color. For example, in New York City, a lot more funds are spent on policing than on the departments of health, homeless services, housing preservation and development, and youth and community development. The tax we pay that is put as funds to support the police workforce should instead be invested in programs that strengthen our communities. 

Lastly, according to Vikrant Reddy, we should not cut the funds instead use the funds to transform the police force that will treat all Americans equally and stop harassment of civilians (Reddy, 00:00:00 – 00:01:29). The debate “Defund the Police” spread after police brutality on the blacks was on the rise. This means that it’s the duty of police workers to treat Americans equally and with care. Everybody has a right to stay safe and thus police officers should not threaten or use excessive force on civilians despite the race. Thus, instead of defunding the police, the federal government, state government, and the local government should look for a strategy to help reduce police brutality and make sure that police officers handle Americans with care. Also, those funds can be used to help support the police force to be trained properly on how to engage civilians in order to avoid unnecessary chaos that might lead to commotions among Americans. 

Conclusively, having reviewed the above arguments, I believe, we should defund the police and utilize the funds in programs that will be of help to society and as well increase safety in our cities and communities. Nowadays, police forces have become more militarized, yet over $100 billion is spend on policing , while required investiments in education, health care, housing, and other important programs go unfulfilled, especially poor communities and communities of colur. This calls upon for redirection of such  funds to programs that matter most to our communities such as health care. Therefore, I believe, we should stop investing in policing and instead invest on important programs that will be of help to all human races in the U.S. Thus, defunding the police will provide more resources to be used in health care programs and other important programs.    

Work Cited 

“Unresolved: American Policing.” IQ2US Debates, 8 Dec. 2020, www.intelligencesquaredus.org/debates/unresolved-american-policing.