By now you’ve heard all about “defunding the police.” If you’re anything like us, the people around you feel passionately about it. They may be for or against it. But what does it mean?
Let’s get one thing out of the way. If you’ve seen the latest GOP videos depicting the United States burning down because Democrats don’t support the police and want to destroy law enforcement, please understand: those videos are lying. The GOP is lying.
Democrats as a whole DO NOT WANT TO ELIMINATE POLICE.
Democrats Support the Police
They want to see changes made – changes that will ultimately benefit society and the police as a whole.
The term “Defund the Police” doesn’t really hit on the change we want to see. A better phrase might be, “Reallocate Some Police Funding.” Of course, that doesn’t roll off the tongue as well.
In reality, Presidential candidate Joe Biden wants to increase police spending by $300 million, specifically through the Community-Oriented Policing Services (cleverly acronym’d COPS).
Doesn’t sound like “defunding” anymore, does it?
Yes, there are some activists out there who want to severely cut down police departments or even abolish them. We are not talking about them. They are, quite honestly, on the extreme fringe, and both parties have their extremists.
The overall Democratic party – its politicians (including the presidential nominee) and the citizens who identify as Democrats – do not want to see the police cut down or abolished.
Democrats Want to Stop Police Brutality
Democrats do want to see an end to police brutality. They acknowledge the problem and want to fix it. They understand that abolishing the police force altogether is not the answer.
Some of the plans Biden has put forward to help police include:
- Providing greater access to mental healthcare and social workers, which will cut down on the need for cops to be sent out in such cases.
- Fund additional training for police officers so they are better equipped to de-escalate a variety of situations.
- “Expand the power of the Justice Department … to address circumstances of ‘systematic police misconduct’ and to ‘restore trust between police and communities.’” (Note: The current administration has limited the ability to deploy this.)
None of us want to live in a world where we need to turn to vigilantes for justice – or worse, take justice into our own hands. Democrats want to see the police force evolve just like we as a country have evolved. They support the reallocation of funding to help cops protect their communities and provide much-needed reformation of the criminal justice system.
Next time you hear a GOP talking point claiming Democrats want to do away with police, understand that it is a lie. Democrats want to see change and improvement, but Democrats also support the police!
To hear some of our own ideas for improving policing (and police/citizen relationships) have a listen to our radio show!