What does ‘defund police’ mean? | USA TODAY

What does "defund the police" mean?
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A veto-proof majority of the Minneapolis City Council committed to dismantling its police department after the death of George Floyd.

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#GeorgeFloyd #BLMProtests #Police

104 comments

  1. The streets are going to look like the gang wars in predator 2… These people have no clue in hell…

    1. @trickdawg No police presence means that criminals will become emboldened and crimes will rise regardless. There is also the issue of who is going to respond during a terrorist attack or school shooting.

    2. @obligatory username EXACTLY. It’s like nobody has ever heard of George Zimmerman. The incompetence on display is truly unreal. They are doing the most foolish things possible at the worst possible time while saying “educate yourself” to those that question their actions. It’s like a dystopian movie..

    3. I can’t wait till some “public volunteers” and “community police” come up against some armed thugs. Good luck Minneapolis.. you morons!

    4. @Loose Cannon don’t even bother.. that person clearly can’t think.. their simple sentence is full of logical fallacy and a non sequitur. These people don’t want logic, reason or the protection of life and property with public servants.. they want abolition… They are litterally screaming and moaning in agony to get their lawmakers to defund and dismantle.

      Because of people like this.. cities like Minneapolis will be protected by “community policing”. You know what that means right? That means we will have bumbling fat slobs like George Zimmerman patrolling the sidewalks with guns. That means people without principles, training, codes of conduct, integrity and history will wear badges. That means “policing” will be based on people’s feelings, constitution be damned! People are going to get arrested and charged for saying something someone else thought was racist even though it wasn’t intended that way. People are going to get shot because some jumpy idiot with a few gun safety courses under their belt will see someone shifting around in the bushes at 2 in the morning. It means criminals will continually run free because the community police will be afraid of a lawsuit or lack the gusto and courage to do what needs to be done. That means women will be raped because the men can get away without being identified by forensics. That means drug dealers will create supply lines that can’t be broken because the law enforcement is fractured and disorganized and not in communication from community to community. That means more people will have and carry guns because they are afraid.

      Things are about to get real stupid if we keep letting these people smirk and snicker while screaming and shouting to get their way. They don’t value the law. They hate the law. The only time they value the law is when they need to call 911.. that’s it!

  2. They probably haven’t seen that one chicago documentary when people were on 30mins+ wait times for an officer, ambulance, or fire truck to arrive.

    1. @2NDARY B18C1 lmfao they’re more than likely slow to respond due to limited staff. Which means cutting their funding would mean less cops they could hire which means it’s gonna be an even longer wait time. That liberal logic is doing you no favors bud😂😂😂😂

    2. Rashaenka sorry to hear that. One of the problems when these officers go to the academy, is they don’t get all the right training. On how to handle people with mental illness, if they’re on drugs, or just simply upset .they are to quick to shoot or use physical force. I mean come on when they have an altercation and the suspects comes towards them why do all the police at the scene have to open fire. And then they find out that the suspect wasn’t armed. The average school time to become a cop is six months. And maybe Jail patrol duty time for awhile . 🤔

  3. More mollycoddling for one community at the expense of everyone else. Many Fire and ambulance services won’t respond without a police escort.

    1. @Compete ToDefeat
      One more fact the FBI did countless studies as far ten years
      That says white males between the ages 18-49 are the number 1
      Domestic threat to America! Haters do your research
      White Nationalist,White Hate groups =Domestic Terrorism

    2. @Xavier Mack no theyre not, the abuse and killing is just all you look at.the police do alot more good for everyone then bad

    3. @Tiki murtaugh FBI statistical data shows more white men have been killed by cops than black one. They kill each other at astounding rates!

    1. @wmc128
      Pop quiz, hot shot:
      Worry about being dead and harm to loved ones from a criminal, or worry about possible prison? Choose.

    2. @Ryan Gray
      No. We need to revoke citizenships and deport repeat offenders, back to their ethnic homelands. It’ll be more efficient and effective in the long run than costly imprisonment and a costly police state.

    3. @Lupe K which part? The “more funding” or “defunding” part because even before all this came about there has been an under funding issue for American police departments in some departments they don’t have tasers or body cams paired with CHEAP shitty training you tell me what happens in situations like that

    4. @Vlad The InhalerIt is extremely good to see people that understand that treating all police the same is like treating all humans the same, its a bad idea you don’t treat a serial killer the same as a doctor all cops are humans so that means some are good some are bad. Same with teachers just because one teacher rapes a student doesn’t mean de fund and abolish the whole school. I thought this type of logic was common but I guess I was mistaken. What do I know though.

  4. lets separate the country into 2 areas, those who want police and those who dont. Wonder which side would do better

    1. @Tiki murtaugh you apparently don’t realize that California counts for about 30% of our GDP right? (If you even know what that is) If it was a country by itself it would be the world’s 5th largest economy. Go back to the drawing board of idiot responses and try again.

    2. @Abhinav S That is NO LONGER TRUE…and is the result of the far left advances and migration of hard working successful people to other states…

    3. MAISA MENDEZ No matter your race, the right will always protect you if you are a good person. We don’t want cops taken away from you or your child.

    1. I’m not so sure. I see more and more of these idiots hating him every day for him trying to do the right thing. The man does not even take a salary for doing the job for Christ’s sake. He is losing billions of dollars from not being able to work his normal job. He’s the most hated person on the planet. He is truly trying to help all people in this country and everybody is too stupid to see it. So I say let this country burn to the ground. The left can have it.

  5. Yea. I’m sure this will work great when investigating murders, homicides, violent crimes, theft, kidnappings, missing persons, domestic violence…Yea…great idea…People are just reactionary idiots, really.

    1. Same ones that don’t want police will be the same ones BEGGING for them to help when they get shot by their brother over a 20 bag.

    2. YEETED YA it’s already begun.

      Blacks are dying at a disproportionate number. The riots and protest, which ironically is only hurting black folks is doing little to nothing to fix the issue.

      Imagine getting shot trying to rob a store and waiting over a hour for any medical help because of the riots and defunding. Rip we’ll see way more casualties in the coming months

    1. Yea ultimately In a thousand years it would help curb it,,,so what happens between now and the final transition a thousand years from now,,,,,total anarchy

    2. @Lupe K does Manuel Meza sound white to you?
      It’s an Hispanic name n last name.
      He’s right though, no matter his race or ethnicity, truth is the truth.
      A life is a life, it should matter all the time, not only when it’s a cop or white person killing black people.
      Accept responsibility!!!

    1. No it means I can finally do 110mph on the highway without a fear of getting pulled over. Let’s do it!!! 🔥🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸🔥🔥🔥🔥👏🏼👏🏼👌👌

    2. When they say the revolution won’t be televised this is what I mean they’re skewing what the movement really means to re-distribute some of the funds that the police department has and to demilitarized them….

    3. dude america has been a third world country for quite a while now i would not care if the protesters beat up trump and gave him the reginald denny treatment.

  6. It sounds like a potentially bad idea. We need to restructure the police and make major changes to hiring, training, requirement, oversight that does not come cheap if done right. Just leaving the police ill funded sounds like a continuation of the problem but with more crime.

    1. John Juanda good point, but then again who are the people you call to help you in an emergency response? Or investigate a cold case murder to stop that said murder from committing another crime? Furthermore I’m sure if I found that they were no consequences it would be highly likely that I would not respect the law and that goes for everyone.

    2. @Larkon979 Nobody said all cops are racist. I said there is a very strong racist culture in many departments and people with cops in their families know this to be true.

    3. @Steve N I’m sorry you’re in denial. The American revolution started with the killing of a black man at boston massacre, maybe this will be a revolution part 2. Too bad people don’t bring that fact up. They also forget 2 years ago Trump was telling rooms full of cops – you don’t have to be too nice. Almost all the cops laughed and clapped. Go google the video.

    4. @Matt Paulson But that’s police reform, so you still have police. Which is totally different that “defunding”. The message loses value when the language of the message is abused, people need to learn the meaning of things. This is why twitter is dangerous. 140 character limit, is the beginning of censorship. Things get lost in translation

    1. @brianwithwolves so you want the neighbourhood watch who has had zero training to protect the city

    2. @brianwithwolves It does. But like any other line of work you have shitty people. You ever heard of a rapist being a teacher? Does that mean we should get rid of education? No.

    3. @jcgw2 Police departments don’t have tanks. They have armored vehicles used to aid cops in the killing of bad people with big guns who are usually trying to kill everyday people like you lmao

  7. Cities across the nation be Like: DEFUND THE POLICE
    Meanwhile People in Baltimore: Don’t Defund the Police. We’ve already protested to reduce them once before and our City’s crime rate skyrocketed so we had to Protest again to get the police back.

    I don’t actually know if Baltimore thinks that way, but if anyone does think that they should defund the police then they are more stupid than the other cities across the USA as they already went through something similar to defunding the police and they suffered because of it. Doing the same thing twice and expecting different results would make Baltimore Insane. Quite Literally according to the definition of Insane.

    1. Mostly protests in Baltimore, Marylanders are pretty smart, we have already had our riots and that literally made things worse

    2. I keep thinking about The Wire and how it showed that police didn’t have enough money to work with to do their jobs. I have no idea how well funded police is anywhere in the US, so I’ll have to take peoples word for it. But The Wire keeps me thinking that defunding isn’t the answer.

    3. I live in Baltimore it would be anarchy I hate racism I think the assholes that killed George Floyd should get the death penalty slow and painfully like how George Floyd was killed but defunding the police. HELL NO!!!! In my house there are 3 shot guns and 4 handguns plus 2 machetes and 1 army knife. My husband and I don’t want to have to teach our 12 and 13 year old sons to use them against Intruders but if they defund the police and they strike we’ll have to. All cops aren’t bad filter out the bad ones. That’s what Internal affairs is for.

    4. I think defunding is the wrong word. It should be reallocating. Most citified tax revenue, around 1/3 of it or up to 60% goes to Police. I think the message is to take that and invest it in the community. Such as mental health institutions, community help program, and etc. Which should reduce crime rate. Let’s be real here, we are calling police officer on whole range of different problems that they are not trained in. If what you said about Baltimore is correct, then they probably just defund the police and not invest in intuition that helps the community.

  8. I never thought in my lifetime I would ever see something like this. It’s about to get real.

    1. Bran’ the Man get a gun and ammo fast while you still can. There’s going to be a shortage of ammo if there isn’t already.

  9. This is a fantastic idea!! Take away the cops so that the criminals will keep us safe at night! ….If people are that afraid of a police officer killing them just wait til it’s the bad guys running around killing people and then let’s see how scared they’ll be.

    1. When they say the revolution won’t be televised this is what I mean they’re skewing what the movement really means to re-distribute some of the funds that the police department has and to demilitarized them.

    2. 90% of people in prison are for non-violent crime, 2nd Amendment only has to take care of 10% Smaller government is right a wing position so isn’t this something everyone can meet in the middle on?

    3. @Frank Titus 90% because 90% fear the repercussions but if there are no repercussions. why would you not commit crimes more frequent and use violence? Cuss your a nice guy?

    1. @TheScotchaholic Are you ready?!?!? We are ready! Let’s do this!
      #ThePurge

    2. @HoneyBadgerKnockOut Badger’s R Us
      Warriors…. come out to plaaaayay!
      Can you dig it? Can you dig it??!!CAN YOU DIG IT???!!!!

    3. Don’t worry who needs cops we’ll just shoot each other whenever we feel threatened. Nothing bad’s going to happen at all! (Sarcasm)

    1. they won’t get rid of the police. They will fire all the cops to get rid of the bad cops and unions and then rehire the good cops to respond to crimes. confiscate all their military equipment. and rebuild the police force from scratch.

    2. How about we simply suspend taxpayer funded DB pensions for law enforcement and provide law enforcement the opportunity to contribute to their own individual 401k accounts? How about we suspend taxpayer funded lifetime medical insurance and allow them to purchase into private healthcare insurance? Given law enforcement is exempt from the NLRA shouldn’t we suspend their ability to organize and collectively bargain? What if we also suspend due process and progressive disciplinary action action and simply establish an “at will” employment relationship?
      These are all positions which the reactionary right support in regards employment in non law enforcement employment positions so what’s good for the goose should be good for the gander.

    3. Say hello to the NEW WORLD ORDER 😡 don’t make a mistake u will regret for the rest of your life

    4. After 4 years of Trump I gladly welcome the supreme overlord to smash into your brains how evil you are. Starting to think China’s government isn’t so bad.

    1. If they abolish the police, they’re abolishing Minnesota.!!!
      If you think there was looting in the past weeks, wait till there’s no more police!!!….

    2. William Simmons Minnesota was never a slave state and became a state only 4 years before the civil war

    1. @o0Avalon0o You’re right, it would have been more accurate for him to say “This is 911. Please only call us for Fire and Medical emergencies from now on as the Police have been defunded” or “I have dispatched police to your home, they should be coming in about an hour to take care of the knife wielding psycho who broke in. Please inform me how many people are in the home so we can bring the right amount of body bags”

  10. ‘911 what’s the emergency?’
    ‘help! someone is shooting at my house’
    ‘alright, we’ll be there in 3 hours since police cars are out of gas because we’re defunded’

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