Minneapolis Mayor meets with protesters; it does not go well

[judeling]

17. You don't just show up where people cheer for you, if you are doing your job.

The idea behind the defund movement is solid. The implementation is not. Taking much of what the police do currently and shifting that to different trained professionals sounds very good and indeed is a step that must be taken. Having people with guns showing up to mental health calls exclusively in then end is counter productive.

The police do a lot of what others could and should be doing, indeed probably more then the actual things we think police are there to do. What we have over time done is use the police as the social medics, first in on a whole host of things.

So shrinking the force and replacing those functions with differently trained professionals make sense. That is of course until budgets get done and places to save money are needed, or until one of those professionals is sent to something they cannot handle.