Those who call to defund the police, don’t stop to think
about what a bad idea it really is to do so. What would
be much better is to fix the police, and yes, there is a
lot of fixing to do. But it is more than just revised
training. There are several things that can be done to
fix law-enforcement systems.
Police need to work carefully on recruitment. Not only
does character need to be considered, but also why
people join the force. Previously, more men and
women have been joining for just the benefits, glorified
advertising, or to gain supreme respect. As a result, the
badge and the gun have given many recruits an ego.
Prestige, courage and toughness are much more
important.
Disregard frivolous 911 callers. There should be more
emphasis on calls for real emergencies, not for
constitutional violations or emotional melt-downs.
Police are for the purpose of protecting lives and
property, not for anger-management issues. Some
examples of frivolous 911 calls are:
a) “My pizza delivery never came.”
b) “I hate my boyfriend and his car is still outside.”
c) “My neighbor won’t turn her music down.”
d) “My neighbor won’t clean up after his dog.”
e) “I was watching cable news and they said that
there will be a race war tonight in my town.”
Eliminate arrest quotas. Legitimate arrests and law
enforcement don’t work well when based on demands
from quotas. Police have enough work to do without
them, especially in big cities, or can find it.
Teach police to go after real crimes, not to bully
citizens because they are vulnerable. Respect is
earned, not solicited. The majority of people arrested or
detained are alone. I like to use the term “dispositional
bilingual”, which means balancing the language of
common sense with the language of the law. It is not to
be manipulated by anything other then good policing.
Crack down on transfers of cops with bad records.
While it is true that there are many of good cops out
there, we need to recognize that bad cops as making
up more of the police departments than publicized.
Don’t exaggerate the number of bad apples in law
enforcement. Most everyone knows that it is not 99%
of cops that are good, but more like only 85 to 90%.
Heavily restrict police union power in court matters,
and reinforce bail for all felonies in all states. Charges
should be more accurate to crimes that actually
happened, and not fabricated just for aggressive
prosecutors to put punishment on people. Corrupt court
systems often have an effect on police behavior.
No more solicitation from police unions to raise money.
Leave websites and other sources out there for
civilians if and when they want to give money,
especially in these times.
While it is true that police work can be dangerous,
good cops need more support and bad cops need to
be phased out. Police are public servants, and need to
protect us like they were protecting their own family. It
its okay for police to fraternize as family, but not to
have a “blue wall of silence” when any cop commits a
felony.
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