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Yeah, and notice how a good chunk of the people asking to defund the police are from already very safe neighborhoods or very young and never had to live through

Yeah, and notice how a good chunk of the people asking to defund the police are from already very safe neighborhoods or very young and never had to live through lots of crime. I'm all for police reforms (eg; body-cam requirements, more training) but the whole defund the police movement is downright dangerous.

josephcsible 5y ago
> I'm all for police reforms (eg; body-cam requirements A lot of rabidly anti-police people are actually against body cams.
- tharne 5y ago
  It's true. More often than not, the body cams corroborate the officer's side of the story.
- not2b 5y ago
  From what I've read, they are against body cams that police officers can selectively turn on and off, because they can surveil everyone but still hide their misconduct.
- aidenn0 5y ago
  My friend is a cop, and he loves his body cam. He has had dozens of complaints against him refuted trivially with body-cam footage (and prior to that at least one serious complaint refuted by the camera in his patrol car). I think most of the anti-police complaints are due to selective releasing of body-cam footage. We are approaching the point where the court of public opinion swings against officers when potentially exculpatory body-cam footage is conspicuously missing; perhaps that will help assuage those concerns.
  - jjeaff 5y ago
    If I was a crooked cop, sure, why not have a body cam. I get to control when to turn it on and off anyway. If I want to do something bad, whoops, I forgot to turn it on. What are you going to do?
autoexec 5y ago
I agree, "defunding" (at least when it actually means more than reform) is more of an emotional outburst than a solution to anything. People have a right to be emotional over what policing has become, but kicking and screaming alone is counterproductive. If we really want to reform the police we're going to have to be prepared to invest more money into it than ever since we'll need massive amounts of training, data collection, firings following by new hires, and oversight. None of that is going to be cheap.
dicknuckle 5y ago
You do realize "defund the police" means diverting funds that would usually be spent on tons of military grade gear they don't need, and using those funds on community improvement programs, right?
- tharne 5y ago
  > You do realize "defund the police" means diverting funds that would usually be spent on tons of military grade gear they don't need, and using those funds on community improvement programs, right? That's not what it means at all. In policing, as in most organizations, the overwhelming majority of expense comes from paying salaries and benefits. Equipment makes up a relatively small portion of the pie. The only way to defund the police, or anything else for that matter, is to cut the headcount. Why I don't agree with AOC on much, she was considerably more honest than other politicians when she said, "Defund the police means defund the police". As others have already pointed out, meaningful improvements to policing in the U.S. would require spending more money, not less.

josephcsible 5y ago

> I'm all for police reforms (eg; body-cam requirements A lot of rabidly anti-police people are actually against body cams.

tharne 5y ago
It's true. More often than not, the body cams corroborate the officer's side of the story.
not2b 5y ago
From what I've read, they are against body cams that police officers can selectively turn on and off, because they can surveil everyone but still hide their misconduct.
aidenn0 5y ago
My friend is a cop, and he loves his body cam. He has had dozens of complaints against him refuted trivially with body-cam footage (and prior to that at least one serious complaint refuted by the camera in his patrol car). I think most of the anti-police complaints are due to selective releasing of body-cam footage. We are approaching the point where the court of public opinion swings against officers when potentially exculpatory body-cam footage is conspicuously missing; perhaps that will help assuage those concerns.
- jjeaff 5y ago
  If I was a crooked cop, sure, why not have a body cam. I get to control when to turn it on and off anyway. If I want to do something bad, whoops, I forgot to turn it on. What are you going to do?

autoexec 5y ago

I agree, "defunding" (at least when it actually means more than reform) is more of an emotional outburst than a solution to anything. People have a right to be emotional over what policing has become, but kicking and screaming alone is counterproductive. If we really want to reform the police we're going to have to be prepared to invest more money into it than ever since we'll need massive amounts of training, data collection, firings following by new hires, and oversight. None of that is going to be cheap.

dicknuckle 5y ago

You do realize "defund the police" means diverting funds that would usually be spent on tons of military grade gear they don't need, and using those funds on community improvement programs, right?

tharne 5y ago
> You do realize "defund the police" means diverting funds that would usually be spent on tons of military grade gear they don't need, and using those funds on community improvement programs, right? That's not what it means at all. In policing, as in most organizations, the overwhelming majority of expense comes from paying salaries and benefits. Equipment makes up a relatively small portion of the pie. The only way to defund the police, or anything else for that matter, is to cut the headcount. Why I don't agree with AOC on much, she was considerably more honest than other politicians when she said, "Defund the police means defund the police". As others have already pointed out, meaningful improvements to policing in the U.S. would require spending more money, not less.