What do you think about the movement to “defund the police”?  Do you support it?

Interesting article today in the New York Times on how things are going in Minneapolis.

The sacred intersection where George Floyd died beneath the knee of a police officer has seen such an increase in violence that food delivery drivers are afraid to venture there. There have been gun battles, with bloodied shooting victims dragged to ambulances because of barricades keeping the police and emergency vehicles away.

But home in on the four neighborhoods surrounding George Floyd Square, the name given to the corner where Mr. Floyd died, and the story is far bleaker and deadlier. In those areas — Powderhorn Park, Central, Bryant and Bancroft — violent crime shot up by 66 percent last year, according to statistics from the Police Department. And this year, so far, little has changed.

The area has become something of an autonomous zone, with barriers and signs calling it “the free state of George Floyd.” The police have stayed away for almost a year to avoid inflaming tensions.

For what it’s worth, I oppose “defunding the police.”  Seattle came under federal Justice Department oversight under the Obama administration for excessive use of force, which disproportionately affects minority populations.  According to the (liberal paper) the Seattle Times, they were making great progress dealing more fairly with the population.  How was this accomplished?  Well, I’m sure it won’t surprise you that it required significant INCREASES to the police budget.  When the Seattle city council in its infinite wisdom cut the police budget, our African American female police chief, who was doing a good job in extremely difficult circumstances as far as I could tell, stepped down rather than fire the young minority officers she’d managed to hire during her tenure.  (The union won’t let you lay off who you want to – last in, first out, and obviously, the older officers are whiter.  Nothtatheresanythingwrongwiththat, but it seems intuitively obvious that having a diverse police force is a worthy goal.)

So what DO I think should be done?  Most of the problems, as far as I can tell, come down to the police unions.  It’s been really interesting to see the Democrats desert the police, since traditionally, they’ve been closely linked (like ALL organizations with a strong union are closely linked to the Dems.)  I think this is a very good thing.  While we’ve seen rising support for police among Republicans, Republicans are unlikely to support the union in the same way the Dems have.

Steps to take:

• Change state laws so that if a police officer in fact kills someone unjustly, they can be held accountable for their actions.
• Keep a NATIONAL registry of police officers let go with cause – Do.Not.Hire so that screwups from one force don’t just relocate to another.
• When an officer screws up and is let go, make sure the cause of termination is on his record.  Again, this comes back to weakening the union and in general, the ridiculousness of try to fire government employees.  An officer can do pretty much anything short of murder without getting a black mark on his record when he’s let go.  This is unacceptable.
• Hire more young, minority officers.

It really comes down, in my mind, to letting go the bag eggs.  They did an analysis, and something like 10% of SPD officers were responsible for the vast majority of violent encounters with civilians.  While some of that is no doubt reasonable (ie some officers probably work in more dangerous areas), it suggests that there are bad eggs.   It’s critical to figure out how to get rid of those guys and replace them with better officers.  A government job should not be a job for life if you suck.

Equally important, though, the long term solution is to get guns off the street.  We keep hearing about people killed by police because they are brandishing a ball point pen, or reaching in their pocket or something similar, when they were in fact unarmed.  I’m sure I’d be a terrible police officer, but no matter who you are, it’s a really hard job to be working with a criminal population armed to the teeth.  So the long-term solution?  Get rid of the guns.  I’m an extremist when it comes to gun control.  I’d like them gone.  I’d take us back to the 1700s if I could, Last of the Mohicans style.  Load one bullet at a time, baby, in a giant, impossible to conceal weapons.  Once the populace is disarmed, there’s no reason for 95% of police officers to carry a firearm or even mace or a taser.

When you have no-go zones, like CHAZ in Seattle or what’s apparently going on in Minneapolis, it’s the women and children who suffer.  Obviously women suffer when their husbands and sons are murdered by police, but they also suffer when criminals are allowed free reign.  It honestly reminds of Belfast, where the Catholic population (justly) distrusted the police and established massive no-go zones throughout the city.  These zones were controlled by the IRA, aka gangs.  You had all manner of idealist talk, but again, the women and children suffered living under unelected rule with mob justice.  Kids deserve a safe place to go to school and shop and so on, and that’s not what’s happening right now.