On Abolishing or Defunding Police Departments
We are very justifiably angry at the behavior of Police Departments in many places. A call has gone out to defund and abolish those departments. It's unlikely that will occur, since the police have a valid function that needs to be performed. The domestic abuse victim, the rape victim, the victim of a burglary, the families of murder victims and other victims all need a working police department.
The problem is not the existence of police departments. The problem is the management of police departments.
In many places, police departments have gained almost absolute autonomy over the years. They operate without sufficient review and without being managed by the people who pay for them. When proposals to institute non-police review boards and to investigate wrongdoing in police departments are made, it is typical for police departments to use threatening tactics, some subtle and some not so subtle, to quash such proposals.
Over time, it has become almost impossible for local governmental jurisdictions to exert control over their own police departments. Attempts to regain control are met with solid resistance from Police Chiefs and especially from Police Unions and Federations. In most cases, local governments cave at that resistance and fail to exert control. It has become a habitual thing in jurisdictions all across the nation.
It is long past time for elected governments to put a stop to that autonomy. The single source of power they have to do so in most cases is that local government jurisdictions control the funding of such departments. Defunding is a solid way to exert control. Removal of appointed leadership in police departments is another means of control by City Councils and Mayors. Defunding, however, is the only power a local jurisdiction can exercise to regain control of law enforcement in that jurisdiction.
However, defunding does not necessarily mean disbanding. It can also enable a top-to-bottom reorganization of local law enforcement. That is what is actually needed. Police departments need to be managed at the highest level by people elected to office by the citizens of a jurisdiction. That control must be absolute, and with no recourse. It must include the ability to remove police officers and leadership personnel summarily. It must include civil review boards with the power to recommend who should be removed summarily, as well.
Control of police departments must be in the hands of people who have to answer to the voters in each jurisdiction. Without that control, police departments have no supervision adequate to the job and can remain autonomous and act as they please.
If defunding is needed to gain that control, then it should be used. No elected body of officials should allow itself to be intimidated by law enforcement organizations. Ever. Whatever is needed to put police departments under the control of elected officials should be done. It is that simple.
Police departments have gained far too much power in most jurisdictions and need to have that power removed and civilian authority restored. That is the minimum that needs to be done. Whatever means to achieve that goal are required are acceptable and should be used. If the only power the government of a jurisdiction has is funding, then defunding should be on the table.
As with all posts written by me, this one is my own opinion. Your opinion might differ, and you can state it in a reply.
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Maybe read it again? 
Don't give up! Practice makes perfect!
