The vast majority of Americans don’t want to defund the police

As activists around the country enter their second month of protesting police brutality, a new survey finds that their messaging around defunding local precincts has fallen flat with the vast majority of Americans.

Forty-two percent say that spending on their local police should stay about the same as it is now, and 31% say that spending should be increased, according to a Pew poll out Thursday.

Just a quarter of Americans say spending on policing in their area should be decreased, and only about half of those say it should be decreased a lot. The numbers come as budget battles are being fought in major cities like New York, San Francisco, and Los Angeles around the robust funding of police forces.

By Nicole Goodkind
July 9, 2020

‘Defund the police’ is not a serious — or a safe — solution

The Minneapolis City Council plans to vote to disband the city’s police department as part of the ongoing fallout from the death of George Floyd. Other cities across the nation, including New York and Los Angeles, have proposed similar or less drastic measures, including budget cuts and redeployment of resources from the police to social and youth programs. Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser amped up the rhetoric by having city workers paint “Black Lives Matter” in large yellow letters on a street leading to the White House, to which activists added “Defund the Police.”

There have been a lot of raw feelings across the nation since Floyd’s death in police custody on May 25. Several firings, resignations or charging of police have occurred during the protests, but the reflexive move to defund or disband police forces is delusional.

By James M. Casey, Opinion Contributor
July 10, 2020

Defunding the police: Could it hurt or help elder abuse efforts? Why the answer is complicated and somewhat surprising.

The growing movement around the country to defund the police is, in the words of the ACLU’s policing policy adviser Paige Fernandez, about investing “in institutions, resources and services that help communities grow and thrive.” So, I’ve been wondering: Could defunding the police initiatives wind up helping to prevent elder abuse and assist elder abuse victims?

“This is a complicated question,” said Page Ulrey, a longtime elder abuse specialist in the King County, Wash., Prosecuting Attorney’s office who is now a trial lawyer with Schroeter Goldmark & Bender in Seattle.

By Richard Eisenberg, Next Avenue
July 22, 2020