What the person did in Wisconsin is horrific and a lot of innocent lives were lost and injured. There is information about a criminal history that includes violence against people, and that this person was let out on bail. That causes some of the "string him up" rhetoric.
The difficulty is that 1. The cash bail system is ridiculous and benefits people with resources while allowing low level, non-violent offenders to languish in jail waiting for a trial in a court system that is backed up and not responsive. While there would likely be problems with a Risk Assessment type of scheme for determining release prior to trial, it might be preferable to the current system. If the information about the suspect is true, there would have been no reason to release him because it looks like he posed a threat to the community.
Because the slogan of "Defund the Police" was so poorly conceived, it is difficult to even have an honest conversation about it. Add to that, people's fear of "crime" and people's short attention span and I am not sure what can be said. Defunding the police is a longer term project and does not simply involve ending funding for police services. It entails an investment into social services, job creation, community building, housing, mental health and SUD services and others that are meant to address the factors that contribute to criminal activity, instead of relying on police to respond to crime after the fact. There are a wider variety of opinions on how it would look, and yes, there are some who just want to abolish police. Those people should not be taken seriously as that would be such a drastic change that there would be significant problems created by the action. As services are funded and there is success in getting people off the streets, into homes, into jobs, in treatment for MH and SUD, and there is a sense of community that is developed, the thinking is that the need for more and more police on the streets, will decline and the savings on the Police budgets can be reinvested into the communities.
Emotion is always going to interfere in some way into these situations. That is how humans are hardwired. The goal is hopefully to mitigate the impact that emotions, bias, and prejudices have on our decision making.
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