this post was submitted on 17 Jul 2024
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In other words, we have too much money.
and this is why defund the police was such a hot topic. To those on the other side, they think we mean "Get rid of all police, zero funding, go away"
When in reality it's "Uh, they literally have too much money, they're buying literal tanks. What if we took some of that tank/cybertruck money and gave it to trained professionals who could help in conflict situations?"
Honestly? Considering how little the police actually do to help anyone, versus the huge amount of harm they cause, I'm not entirely convinced that "Get rid of all police" wouldn't be a good idea, even if they got replaced with basically nothing. And I've seen a lot of leftists who felt similarly. So "those on the other side" aren't entirely wrong; they just don't understand how incredibly bad police are.
This doesn't mean we should replace the police with literally nothing — obviously things investing in social services and crisis intervention would be great. It's just that I find it hard to do worse than what currently exists.
!abolition@slrpnk.net
The modern concept of police is relatively recent, it was invented during the industrial revolution. In Rojava they replaced the police with community patrols whose members are elected and accountable for their actions. Different ways are possible.
Municipal police mostly came from the great railroad strike of 1871.