Seen on the street in Kyiv.

Words of Advice:

"If Something Seems To Be Too Good To Be True, It's Best To Shoot It, Just In Case." -- Fiona Glenanne

“The Mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” -- The TOFF *

"Foreign Relations Boil Down to Two Things: Talking With People or Killing Them." -- Unknown

“Speed is a poor substitute for accuracy.” -- Real, no-shit, fortune from a fortune cookie

"If you believe that you are talking to G-d, you can justify anything.” — my Dad

"Colt .45s; putting bad guys in the ground since 1873." -- Unknown

"Stay Strapped or Get Clapped." -- probably not Mr. Rogers

"The Dildo of Karma rarely comes lubed." -- Unknown

"Eck!" -- George the Cat

* "TOFF" = Treasonous Orange Fat Fuck, A/K/A Dolt-45,
A/K/A Commandante (or Cadet) Bone Spurs,
A/K/A El Caudillo de Mar-a-Lago, A/K/A the Asset., A/K/A P01135809

Saturday, May 29, 2021

Defund the Fuzz?

A councilman in Atlanta who supports defunding the police had his car stolen by a bunch of kids.

If you don't know about the "defund the police" movement, you can learn about it by some savvy searching, but try to avoid the fascist Right's blatherings on it.

There is an argument to be made that we expect too much of the police. I suspect that the percentge of police recruits who joined the force out of an aspiration to deal with homeless people and people having mental health breakdowns is probably in the lowsingle-digits of a percentile. There has to be a better way to do it.

But the way to address those needs is to figure out what should be done and put those services and programs in place before taking mental health crisis response and homeless outreach away from the police. Get those programs running, make sure they work and then, if it cam be shown that there has been a significan load reduction on police services, reduce funding for the police. But this will cost real money.

Otherwise, we'd repeat the same mistakes that were made, decades ago, when the lunatic asylums were closed down without providing for any alternatives for those who needed those services.

In summation, if you really think that defunding the police will translate into reduced costs for local government, I respectfully suggest that you grab ahold of your ears and pull your head out of your ass.

6 comments:

dinthebeast said...

How about we increase the resources of the mental health and social services system AND reduce the scope of the cops' job description?
How about we repeal the drug prohibition laws that are at the root of a major portion of the conflict between the police and the communities they serve?
How about we pay for it all with taxes on people and businesses who can afford to pay them?

-Doug in Sugar Pine

Dark Avenger said...

Police are recruited from the criminal classes.

Gore Vidal

Ten Bears said...

The need for "enforcement" is a measure of a failed society.

We have to stop doing what we're doing. It isn't working ...

CenterPuke88 said...

The reality of defunding the police is it's refunding the social and mental health services.

Comrade Misfit said...

CP88, that's fine if the funding is there. But, as I've said, I doubt that the funds will be transferred.

dinthebeast said...

"But, as I've said, I doubt that the funds will be transferred."

So fund them first, then deal with police reform in the new situation that arises out of providing those resources.

-Doug in Sugar Pine