I do think the word DEFUND is part of the problem that some people have with this concept. They hear that and think, “Well, with no cops, good luck!” Reallocation of funds to better serve the community is what the concept was about, and had it been framed that way, it wouldn’t have had so much backlash.
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Because people need to educate themselves in the stupid terminology politicians and lawmakers use… so yes, it is a problem that leads some down the wrong path of argument.
Agree. I was just going to post this. It’s hard to have a debate about something when people have different ideas about what the term means.
Same thing goes for “socialism”.
There is a LOT of political slush fundery in that number, guaranteed. Especially in the state capital.
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If you haven’t actually looked at any data that is a significant assumption to come to to “guarantee”.
I fail to see how that is relevant. Regardless of where the budget is spent, the fact remains that the force is still funded, heavily, by the tax payers.
America has about 4% of the world’s population, yet it owns about 22% of the global incarcerated population. There is a good reason that these police forces need to have their ballooned budgets reduced and reallocated to community programs that will help prevent crime. I digress. 
All starts with education. Countries that invest heavily into education see their violent crime rates go down, overall health problems decrease, poverty decrease… Education is key to solving man made societal issues we face… We might have the best colleges in the world but our education system now is shameful when compared to a lot of other nations.
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Has anyone thought that we have the highest global incarceration rate because we have the most shit to steal…and then turn around and sell said stuff to someone who doesn’t care where it came from?
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Actually and sadly, we have the highest incarceration rate because jailing people is a business here in the U.S. There’s a lot of folks in jail who shouldn’t be in jail me thinks… particularly those who were caught with some weed or selling small amounts, etc. I think I read it’s like 40k people are in jail over marijuana related offenses…
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You’re right. A heavily funded, oversized police department with military equipment is a slippery slope to marshall law or some sort of Stazi-type force.
Now if only education was affordable.
I can fully back Bernie, AOC, etc when they say college should be free. We already pay for it with our tax dollars, why should I pay for it twice?
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Maybe if we stopped paying college head coaches millions of dollars a year (I know this isn’t all head coaches but I recall a Texas University Mack Brown got like a 5 million dollar contract once… )… that would be a good start I think. 
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I think a lot of that money comes from boosters and private donations. I still it’s crap though.
Oh, and books. Books should be hundreds to thousands of dollars either.
Oh, the prices of books is ridiculous. The same problems that plague our healthcare system are plaguing our education system. Bottle of Advil at the Hospital is $400. Book at College Bookstore is $200…
It’s worse than just the hospitals. My cardiologist prescribed me baby aspirin as a regimen. Standard, Bayer 81mg aspirin. I can a 400ct bottle from Sam’s Club for $13 today, which was previously about $11. Walgreens wanted to charge me $11 for a 30ct.
I don’t know how the Healthcare and insurance industry in this country hasn’t been indicted under the RICO act. Oh… wait… yeah do: political bribes aka “donations”
No. Nobody has ever thought that. 
There are several other very rich nations in the world who have a lot of nice stuff to steal, and have a low crime rate.
There are several socioeconomic issues that are direct causes to the crime issues in the USA. The main reason for incarceration in the USA is drug possession, not theft. And the incarceration % rate in the USA has quadrupled, if not more, since Reagan introduced the “War on drugs”. Ironically, Reagan was also responsible for exacerbating those socioeconomic issues mentioned above, that have led to crime increases in the US, with his disproven economic theory of trickle down economics, which helped energize growth in the wealth disparity. Not looking to argue, Vann. I’m just sharing my views.
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