Posted on 07/28/2020 7:24:13 AM PDT by MarvinStinson
As protests over racial inequality sweep America, many have settled on one goal: redirecting portions of policing budgets toward mental health services, job creation, housing and more.
Attention has focused on how “defunding” the police.
“We are invested in ensuring that the people who suffer the worst brutalities by police decide where the resources go,” said Kayla Reed, St. Louis activist.
Two dozen cities are mulling creating alternative budgets that reflect social aims and pushing for “participatory budgeting” funding priorities gathered from residents and then implemented.
The approach is seeing an explosion of interest, said Kristania De Leon of the Participatory Budgeting Project.
Several cities are seeking to establish new budgeting processes--Seattle, Sacramento, and the Phoenix school system, among others.
Portland is reaching out to the city’s homeless to notify them of $1 million allocated for an upcoming participatory budgeting process.
Rashawn Ray, a governance studies fellow at the Brookings Institution, said the approach is particularly important in the context of police budgets.
“With policing, payoff is supposed to be less crime, but research doesn’t actually support that more funding for police leads to decrease in crime.
“People who are calling for defunding of the police are (on firm ground) in saying that mental health and addiction specialists should be more involved in response calls.”
A Gallup survey released this month found that 58% of Americans - and 88% of Black Americans - say major changes are needed in policing.
In St. Louis, a bill will now see the closure of a local jail.
The Nashville People’s Budget Coalition called for greater funding for education, housing and healthcare, and less for criminal justice.
Similar “people’s budget” efforts have been created in Los Angeles, New York and other cities.
(Excerpt) Read more at aol.com ...
What could possibly go wrong?........................
Yeah, and we all know which demographic that is. They "suffer", but only because they deserve it.
The approach is seeing an explosion of interest
By the very demographic that needs police. Smart. Real smart.
People who suffer at the hands of the police are CRIMINALS who are RESIST ARREST. Why the hell should they get a say in where money gets spent? Innocent citizens going about their daily business in a lawful manner do not "suffer brutality by police." This is such bogus BS.
That element is all in favor of them being able to get weapons, more ammunition, and having fewer police, fewer detectives, fewer ADAs, fewer judges, fewer courtrooms and fewer prisons.
Yes, I'm sure that someone robbing a liquor store or carjacking a mother and her children is just in need of mental health assistance.................
Say what one will about how this could go too far, but at least where I live the vast majority of problems with the police is that we send warriors to deal with mental health issues.
They hire and train cops for ‘good guy/bad guy’ scenarios and thinking, spend a lot of time teaching them to use weapons and then their actual interactions are with people who are having mental breakdowns or other psychological issues.
A lawsuit going on now where they arrested a youn man having what seemed to be a breakdown, threatening only himself, threw him in jail, didn’t let him get his meds, didn’t let a doctor besides the prison doc see him, and then he killed himself.
It’s not that the cops are bad people, but they don’t seem to be trained for the majority of the problems we face; they deal with hundreds of people who should be institutionalized or are simply homeless due to cognitive defects and/or substance abuse issues for every actual ‘bad guy’ that requires physical force.
Apparently, a number of cities “leaders” are nitwits without a clue. LOL. More popcorn!!!
What? No poll on defunding police?
The needs of the many outweighs the needs of the few or one.
This demographic lacks the societal skills necessary to function in our complex society.
Whatever solution that may exist needs to be gradually applied, not simply implemented by force.
Treating drug addiction as a medical and a moral issue would help a great deal and gives society itself a buy-in on the issue.
Organizations like the Salvation Army (read faith in God) can really help put people on the right track better than a jail cell.
That said, the current police force needs to composed of warriors.
How did the “midnight basketball” thing work out?
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