PrintJune 21, 2020
The answer to police violence is not 'defund,' it's reform
Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd. No reasonable person can think otherwise. For eight minutes and forty-six seconds, Chauvin pushed Floyd’s face into the asphalt by placing his knee on the neck of a man in handcuffs. The mainstream media would like you to know that Chauvin was white, and Floyd was black. Was it a racially motivated killing? Perhaps, but we may never know. What we do know, however, is that Derek Chauvin used his position of power as a police officer to murder someone.
We cannot, however, jump to the conclusion that Derek Chauvin exemplifies every police officer in America. We also cannot take from the killing of a black man by a white police officer that every police force in the United States is systemically racist. People on the Left are doing just that in an attempt to hijack the outrage caused by Floyd’s death to push a radical agenda that would fundamentally change the way we live and work in the U.S.
One of the radical changes those on the Left have pushed for in the days since Floyd’s murder is the defunding of the police. To put it simply, to defund the police would be to give a death sentence to thousands of Americans—especially African-Americans—every year.
The Black Lives Matters organization claims to want to protect every single black life. If that’s the case, then defunding the police is antithetical to their goal. Blacks make up 53% of the homicide offenders in the country while only making up 13% of the population. And they are not killing white people; they are overwhelmingly killing other black people. Blacks are also incarcerated at a rate five times that of whites. Without the cops, you now have all of those criminals roaming the streets without fear of being caught by law enforcement.
The Ferguson effect is real. Basically, the Ferguson effect says that when law enforcement becomes disengaged, and they leave an area due to increased public outcry (such as after the 2014 killing of Michael Brown), crime goes up. Many different studies have proven this. In June 2016, a study done by the University of Missouri found that homicides increased 16.8% in 2015. The lead scientist on the study, Richard Rosenfeld, said that “the only explanation that gets the timing right is a version of the Ferguson effect.”
Also, does the defunding of the police mean a defunding of 911 call centers? Imagine this scenario: you’re home alone at night when you hear someone rattle your front door. A few seconds later, you see the silhouette of a person. A few seconds later, that person smashes through your window and enters your house. You retreat to your bedroom, barricade the door, and dial 911. You’re met with a busy signal. Or worse, there is no 911 anymore.
Some have suggested completely replacing police officers with social workers. I have a question; do you want an unarmed social worker who has no experience in combat or firearms to be responding to your house when that burglar or rapist invades your home?
All of this does not mean that we cannot take a look at serious police reform propositions. One such reform would be a reduction in power that police unions have. Derek Chauvin had seventeen misconduct complaints against him in the eighteen years he was on the force. Yet, he was only disciplined once after dragging a woman out of her car and frisking her after she exceeded the speed limit by ten miles per hour. The discipline was a letter of reprimand. Powerful police unions make it difficult for police forces to weed out and fire bad police officers, and until the unions are weakened, it will be challenging to pass any real police reform.
Another reasonable proposition would be more transparency in the form of mandatory body cameras. Many police departments already require their officers to wear body cams when interacting with the public. Technically, Congress cannot force state and local police departments to require their officers to wear body cameras. However, there is precedent for Congress to offer federal funding in exchange for action. (See South Dakota v. Dole).
It is also time that police departments review their use of force guidelines. The knee-on-neck restraint is something police officers in some departments are taught to use in certain situations. Of course, no department would ever approve the use of the method for over eight minutes.
Earlier in the piece, I mentioned social workers. There is room for social workers to be involved in police work. Perhaps, when responding to a call about a homeless loiterer, the department could begin to send a social worker along with a cop instead of two squad cars. Social workers are more adept at dealing with people like the homeless on a personal level, and it decreases the chance of a violent incident.
The murder of George Floyd has opened a window of opportunity within which everyone is ready and willing to enact common sense police reform. Democrats, don’t spoil it by calling to defund and disband the police.
If you want change and if you want to protect black lives, reform don’t defund. Build up, don’t tear down.
Image credit: Pixabay / public domain
