What Does It Mean To Dismantle A Police Department? | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

Phillip Atiba Goff of John Jay College of Criminal Justice, talks with Rachel Maddow about the idea behind plans in Minneapolis to dismantle the police department and rebuild something different, and explains why simply defunding police departments would not produce the results some protesters are calling for. Aired on 6/8/2020.
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What Does It Mean To Dismantle A Police Department? | Rachel Maddow | MSNBC

68 comments

  1. I was against defunding the police because I didn’t know what it meant. Aafter hearing this gentleman’s explanation, this should be the explanation everyone should give confronted with this question. This was the most eloquent reply I could wish for to understand. thank you so much Rachel and doctor

    1. @demi- dogg wow, you are just a tad insane. You respect laws because they are laws and you risk getting put in jail if you don’t. It’s called consequences. As I always told my kids, every decision you make has consequences, they may be good ones or bad ones, but you better be ready to face whatever they are when you make those choices. That is called accountability, perhaps you could try it occassionally.

    2. @A lone Voice Incorrect. We disrespect unjust laws & stand up for justice. As I always told my kids – We live to challenge & never to submit to injustice.

    3. @Amy Y Prediction: Trump will marginalize people to hate him, till people become dysfunctional and start believing that barely getting by is getting back at Trump and his army, when all other resistance has faded away in his second term.

    4. @demi- dogg it is fine to stand up for injustice, that right is inherent, and it should be done….correctly. your rights don’t override other people’s rights. And if you decide to fight, you need to be ready for the consequences. If you are not, don’t do it.

  2. Good luck USA i hope you pull it off, about time you did something like this. Sick of hearing nothing but bad news from your country. Would be really exciting to see you succeed.

    1. @Gio Perdomo Census etc all come in around 328/330 million.
      Give it another 20 years and you’ll be on the money.

    1. The public is ignorant of its governments that it nevertheless fully supports & does not appear to be able to comprehend that it’s ignorance is a huge problem

    2. How do individuals acting criminally define the representative status of a nation? We literally just had a president of colour. There aren’t ANY laws currently that hold back POC, and that’s coming from a POC. And if there is, please give me an example. Yes there are some shitbags who do these acts, but you can hardly police someone’s inner thoughts and perceptions, all you can do is make sure these individuals answer for their tangible crimes

    3. @Afif Majid written by a person who ain’t trying to understand what it means to be Black in America. Just say I don’t have Black friends and I don’t get it. Because really you don’t and thus the reason for your ignorance. It’s America you are entitled to that ignorance.

    4. @inner3peace to all black mothers out there, if you really, truly want your child’s life to matter in this day and age, then please make sure they are killed by a white cop. If the black life is killed by anyone else other than a white cop, then that life becomes forfeit and it will NOT matter.
      The rules are very simple.
      Get killed by a white cop if you want to become a martyr and matter.
      If you don’t, then you don’t.

    1. @Patrick York Police officer and peace officer are two different things. Unfortunately they are both being used as road agents under Maritime Admiralty law.

    2. Nobody said we don’t want the police?
      *DEFUND POLICE AND HAVE IT RESTRUCTURED AND REFORMED.*
      Send our money to communities to re-educate youth, teens, and the police thugs. Teach them to respect each other.
      We need a new and better police.

  3. Dr. Goff is so right about this. It’s not just a law enforcement issue; it’s resources across the board.

    1. @Michael Schneider Too bad they weren’t anarchists. If that is your heritage, it is decidedly not anarchist. Get an education.

    2. Larry Bones no one is advocating anarchy. They just want certain police departments reformed. The message has not been clear though and as usual they can’t deliver a clear and legitimate message because rage has overshadowed reason. But can you honestly blame them? The people screaming right now simply want the Constitution to apply to all Americans as it should, and is not. To deny that gross reality is to deny that the American Revolution ever happened. Did the American Revolution happen? Well of course and the evidence is still reverberating to this day. But still not settled. We started out with legal human bondage. Which of course took war within against half of our country to make it illegal. As if the first 85 years weren’t bad enough, even with the enslavement of black people illegal, it continued, and so did the driving forces behind slavery in the first place; racism so rampant that most people didn’t even know they were racist, and greed, greed, and more greed. Those tow things have barely abated. The civil war was the most horrific waste of time and effort and human lives that this country has experienced. Why do I call it a waste? Because it made slavery illegal only in the eyes of the law. Not in the eyes of half this country.

  4. And an ambulance can cost up to $2000 here in Ventura county. Unless you have scheduled an appointment. I’m not kidding..

    1. I think the charge for an ambulance varies according to local taxes and insurance companies but it shouldn’t be charged to people at all.

      Those who cry “socialism” needs to look around. You pay local, city, state and federal taxes for many social or social like things from traffic signs, military, to bail outs.
      Meanwhile, corporations and wealthy taxes was greatly reduced by Trump/Administration. Some paid 0 dollars, got refunds, from their federal taxes.
      Those people pay less of their wealth in taxes compared to the working class yet receives more tax dollars.

    2. @Selah The word isn’t ‘socialism’. It’s ‘decency’. That’s all people are asking for but others are either too stupid or too selfish to see it. From the comments I’ve seen I’d say selfish trumps!!!

    3. @jacq danieles your being duped, hood winked, or as we say “mugged right off” we see time after time american citizens voting against your own interests in the most astonishing ways. You must fight back.

  5. WHEN ALL YOU HAVE IS A HAMMER everything looks like a nail
    WHEN ALL YOU HAVE IS POLICE everyone looks like a criminal

    1. @Larry Bones why does America have more prisons than any other nation. I’ll give you a hint, its all about a small minority holding on to money and power.

    2. @TKO Studios Could not say it better. Prisons and Police are big money. Let’s not forget all the weapons, including tear gas, that are made and sold in the US. At least, some people should not fool themselves thinking this is really about safety and lowering crime. Countries such as Norway have other kind of Prison system and it appears to be working much better. Stripping a human of their dignity will not prevent this person of committing new crimes.

    3. Last year 19 unarmed white people we killed by police, and only 9 black people this is FBI statistics, also BLM why haven’t they said anything about David Dorn, oh so black lives matter when it’s convenient

    1. Hal Swan You win. That’s 99% of the problem. No respect for themselves or others. This all begins with the family. Nobody’s born a racist, you learn from example.

  6. I was listening to Phillip Atiba Goff, talk about how to solve the emergency situations differently… and then I realised: That’s how we ALREADY do it in Denmark. Of course police are not coming everytime, when they’re not needed and especially when they don’t have the training for handling mental illness and other issues.

    1. Denmark might as well be in a different galaxy than the United States with regard to demographics. Comparing the two nations is not exactly the brightest idea.

  7. Secret police operatives!
    We do have a form of secret police 👮‍♀️! The government, and/or the police can now legally infiltrate peaceful groups, and organizations! These governmental assets than are utilized in preplanned Kettling action’s to commit violent acts, and/or crimes, so than excuses are now present to arrest everyone, including reporters! If there was any violence, or injuries committed by the government, it was than excusable, as being a necessary evil! Remember this is preplanned ahead of the protest-taking place! 😢
    “Fight the powers, Fight the powers that be! By Public Enemy! ❤️🤗🖖

    1. It’s not like there are no police in Camden though. They fired all the employees, letting them choose who to hire for the new force, and then created a new force.

      It was a good idea in the face of the union contract and the systemic corruption and racism in the force but do not oversell it and there is still a long way to go before we’ll know if it worked.

    2. Just give blacks everything.
      Then when it collapses maybe anti racist white people will learn we white nationalists were right all along 😂😂😂

  8. Here in Minneapolis, we’ve suffered from decades of Police Federation (the union, as contrasted with the metropolitan police department) resistance to reforms. Instead of merely protecting valid employee rights, it has rigidly resisted the kind of accountability and attitude change that protects the human rights of the communities the police are supposed to serve.

  9. We need more articulate, educated, warm, open and human individuals like that man. I could listen to him all day.

    1. to all black mothers out there, if you really, truly want your child’s life to matter in this day and age, then please make sure they are killed by a white cop. If the black life is killed by anyone else other than a white cop, then that life becomes forfeit and it will NOT matter.
      The rules are very simple.
      Get killed by a white cop if you want to become a martyr and matter.
      If you don’t, then you don’t.

    2. Taylor Craig Newbold I would say that about any intelligent individual, open to positive change.

    3. @Dominique The easy minimalist dont bend to ignorant people, I get what your saying an thank you.

  10. Most issues in life, good or especially bad, have made the 1% richer. COVID-19 has supersized their riches. I could listen to him all day.

  11. Simple Mr. Philip Atiba ,
    I’m sure many of you remember this story:
    That’s Not My Job

    This is a story about four people named Everybody, Somebody, Anybody and Nobody. There was an important job to be done and Everybody was sure that Somebody would do it. Anybody could have done it, but Nobody did it. Somebody got angry about that, because it was Everybody’s job. Everybody thought Anybody could do it, but Nobody realized that Everybody wouldn’t do it. It ended up that Everybody blamed Somebody when Nobody did what Anybody could have.

  12. OMG, Dr. your voice is so much needed where the rules are being made. I hope they are listening because it is not that hard to do. Thank you.

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