By: Jasmine Smith
With the heightened amount of police brutality that has been seen in news over the past few months, many have begun discussions about how to put an end to police brutality and what the future should look like for officers across the United States. At the forefront, have been conversations about either defunding, disbanding or abolishing the police. Before you even take a stance, do you know what each of the three would entail?
Defund
Most people will be more familiar with this term because it is the term we see the most and has also been associated with those that support Black Lives Matter. Unlike the other two terms, disband will not mean the dismantling or elimination of police. It instead means a cut to the budget spent on law enforcement. That budget could then be replaced into local community organizations and programs that are doing work for the betterment of their community. The specific reform that would take place depends on each law enforcement and the plans they decide to implement. Some of what could take place is fewer cars, vacancies not being filled and training, equipment and overtime budgets being trimmed.
Disband
Disband on the other hand, calls for a total re-branding of police officers. It means shutting down law enforcement and starting over with new training and protocols. Disbanding a unit is more common than disbanding an entire agency. Disbanding has had some success in the past. In 2012, after reaching record high numbers of homicide, Camden, New Jersey laid off its entire police department to put a new plan into place. With 40% of their staff rehired, the department reports a 85% drop in excessive force complaints.
Abolish
If it’s not obvious by the name, abolish is the most extreme out of the three. This calls for getting rid of policing as a whole and replacing it with other systems of public safety. It acknowledges that the law enforcement system is flawed and cannot be reformed. This will require a lot of work in changing the systems that directly rely on policing, such as congress passing laws around prison labor, voting rights and gun ownership. It also requires the decriminalization of thousands of behaviors.
Now that you know what each one means, where do you stand? Drop a comment and let us know.
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