I can relate to what you say about being disappointed when the police did absolutely nothing after your belongings were stolen. I was similarly shocked when I was called to a friend's house — a blind friend — back in the 1990s following a theft. Except there was no break in. Over $500 worth of his belongings went missing after letting in an appraiser. No one else had been there between the time the police showed up and the time I showed up along with the call to the police. Yet they would not even so much as interview the appraiser. It left us with the impression that as a disabled person his situation just wasn't worth their time. I remember feeling angry too — and this story concerns a white (albeit disabled) victim!
While I agree with your general observation that police do not necessarily prevent crime or even solve crime all that often but there's no way to quantify what level of detterance they represent. I can tell several stories from my own life where a police officer just happened to be there when I needed one. None of this is quantifiable but it still has an impact. The only way we can judge their impact is by removing them from communities and observing the results. So far, the overall result — not just from the defund movement but because the pandemic severely damaged community budgets for policing — is that crime is on the rise at levels nobody expected.
At this point, it looks like we need serious police reform but we're also seeing that they are not easily replaced. Until the day of "reimagine" is fully funded, we can't leave communities in a lurch between the point where police are defunded and the future where there are better alternatives. On one more note — and this is going to be controversial — I think the danger of defund is that it is expressed in a classist way. Wealthy communities continue to fund their police whereas disadvantaged communities are likely to defund them faster, not just because there is a police brutality problem but because disadvantaged communities/Cities are unable to afford them. The biggest expense for any local government is policing. I fear that if we're too eager to defund we'll get there first — without the re-imagine part — and it will just be another factor in the growing level of inequality we see between the "haves" and the "have nots". Traditionally money and power define class. If we defund police sufficiently in communities of color, we will also see class have an advantage on public safety. That isn't the intention of this, I know, but it could very well be the end result.
I can relate to what you say about being disappointed when the police did absolutely nothing after your belongings were stolen. I was similarly shocked when I was called to a friend's house — a blind friend — back in the 1990s following a theft. Except there was no break in. Over $500 worth of his belongings went missing after letting in an appraiser. No one else had been there between the time the police showed up and the time I showed up along with the call to the police. Yet they would not even so much as interview the appraiser. It left us with the impression that as a disabled person his situation just wasn't worth their time. I remember feeling angry too — and this story concerns a white (albeit disabled) victim!
While I agree with your general observation that police do not necessarily prevent crime or even solve crime all that often but there's no way to quantify what level of detterance they represent. I can tell several stories from my own life where a police officer just happened to be there when I needed one. None of this is quantifiable but it still has an impact. The only way we can judge their impact is by removing them from communities and observing the results. So far, the overall result — not just from the defund movement but because the pandemic severely damaged community budgets for policing — is that crime is on the rise at levels nobody expected.
At this point, it looks like we need serious police reform but we're also seeing that they are not easily replaced. Until the day of "reimagine" is fully funded, we can't leave communities in a lurch between the point where police are defunded and the future where there are better alternatives. On one more note — and this is going to be controversial — I think the danger of defund is that it is expressed in a classist way. Wealthy communities continue to fund their police whereas disadvantaged communities are likely to defund them faster, not just because there is a police brutality problem but because disadvantaged communities/Cities are unable to afford them. The biggest expense for any local government is policing. I fear that if we're too eager to defund we'll get there first — without the re-imagine part — and it will just be another factor in the growing level of inequality we see between the "haves" and the "have nots". Traditionally money and power define class. If we defund police sufficiently in communities of color, we will also see class have an advantage on public safety. That isn't the intention of this, I know, but it could very well be the end result.
Well written article Nick! Can’t wait to reads the next one! Keep up the great work bruh!
Loved this, I’m definitely a fan❤️