Our Department Is Being Defunded

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
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I see and work around this every week. This is an extremely serious problem, effecting everyone regardless of race or political affiliation.

Why are law enforcement officers leaving? According to a report by the Police Executive Research Forum, among the responding agencies as a whole, fewer new officers were hired, and resignations and retirements increased in the 2020-2021 period, compared to the previous year. Resignations rose 18 percent and retirements increased a whopping 45 percent. The reduction in force drains a profession in need of expertise, and expertise comes only from experience.

According to the comments provided during this survey, on recruiting, “We have seen an approximate 40-percent reduction in applicant packets this last fiscal year. In addition, we are seeing fewer ‘above average’ candidates. The current rhetoric and negativity surrounding law enforcement is having a negative impact on the number and quality of applicants we recruit. …In 2020 and 2021, most of our officers who left did not leave for another department. They left the profession.”

The rhetoric and negativity officers allude to includes that coming from the elected officials charged with supporting their officers. But many politicians continue to weaponize the police reform agenda. They make examples out of officers for operating normally in justified, lawful situations.

Ultimately, the true impact these recruitment and retention issues law enforcement is facing has now materialized on the streets of America in the form of a spike in violent crime rates. In Chicago, homicides rose 33 percent in the first three months of 2021 compared to 2020, and shootings are up nearly 40 percent. In New York City, murders are up nearly 14 percent through March 28, and shootings up nearly 50 percent. On the west coast, in Los Angeles, homicides are up 36 percent over the same time period in 2020.

Perhaps the Portland Police Association said best, concerning the reason why recruitment and retention of officers dropped at such a critical juncture in our history. “Unfortunately, this decorated public servant has been caught in the crossfire of agenda-driven leaders and a politicized criminal just system.” That system stands bound to fail if law enforcement officers are made to continually feel like the suspect, rather than the subject matter expert. After all, if all the officers walk away, who will protect law and order?

We have seen over 20,000 homicides last year, which is the first time we’ve been over 20,000 in this country since the 1990s. Our profession is dying. Our community is suffering, and there’s not going to be anybody left to take this job.”

I thought it was crazy for someone to walk away from this job. I just couldn’t imagine them giving up. If not them, then who? At this point it’s not giving up. It’s life or death. Get out, walk away, and leave if you need to.

I know that your family and mental health are suffering. At some point you might decide that enough is enough. At some point it’s going to be time to take care of yourself and your family.

I am not suggesting that all police quit. We need you and we will keep doing everything we can to support you. But, if you decide that you are done and you can’t take it anymore then we also support you.

If people are leaving and no one is signing up to serve then we are going to have a really big problem. Brace yourself.

Maybe people need to live in a world without police before they are able to realize and appreciate what living in a world with police is like. If you don’t want them or need them… stop calling because soon enough no one will answer your call.

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You’re correct. I was assuming at the moment the post was in context of the political climate in the US, my bad.

It’s incredibly sad and also very dangerous. I wholeheartedly embrace police reform since my fundamental position is that we can do everything better, and that we SHOULD do everything better because why half ass something? But embracing reform is not the same - and should never be made the same - as villainizing police officers or the justice system as a whole.

I think one of the quotes from an article zecarlo posted said it well… "dynamics only illustrate that police reform is about more than “hard, green dollars,” says Robbie Friedmann, a policing expert at Georgia State University. When a profession that is ostensibly built on service and honor is cast as immoral, the consequences can be severe.

“What the implications are is that officers are resigning, they’re retiring early, and new cadets are not coming in at the numbers police need them,” says Mr. Friedmann, who runs an international police officer exchange program. “When you erode the moral basis of police authority and police deterrent powers, that is a boomerang [that is] counterproductive to policing itself and detrimental to the society that we live in"

When you erode the foundation, you get cracks in the house.

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Whilst I wholeheartedly disagree with defending the police force, it isn’t as if 2020 was the first time we’ve seen this abolitionist policy rear it’s head. Camden, NJ is a dangerous city; easily within the top 20 worst places to live within the United States.

That being said, the city used to be the MOST dangerous place to live, in 2012 corruption within the local police department was so widespread the problem was said to be unfixable. Rampant reports of officers planting drugs and whatnot on civilians led to a dramatic reform. The city defunded and ultimately dissolved it’s department with the caveat a new county based police department was to be formed with different requirements/training protocols entailed for recruits.

The result? Violent crime dropped over 40% in the years subsequent to the major reform. The reforms equate to “defending the police” but are far from a “non-policed reality”. I wouldn’t advocate for this approach systemically as what was going on with the police departments in Camden prior to 2012 isn’t remotely comparable as to what goes on within the majority of the US. That is, corruption isn’t systemic so there would be little rationale to dissolve police departments in favour of a new approach UNLESS said systemic corruption is also present in a few select counties/cities. I wouldn’t be surprised if it were present in some of the few areas in the US so impoverished/gang ridden they equate to third world countries. In which case, one could advocate for a similar approach within these specific areas.

When many refer to “defunding the police” as a “radical left policy” I think they’re referring to disbanding the police force entirely. Only a moron would want this, I think SOME may instead be thinking “create a new department” whereas I think “if we do in fact require a level of reform, why not reform the departments we already have? Creating a whole new department takes a lot of effort and ought to be a last resort!”

I’d like to point out the last year within the US has seen mass civil unrest, political/societal instability, economic strain following the pandemic etc. There are MANY variables leading to an uptick in crime.

In Australia, the state of Victoria has been totally locked down with 5km radiuses and all for movement patterns for 6 out of the past 12 months. This coupled with a rise in poverty/economic strain, a decline in societal mental health/wellbeing etc has lead to an uptick in drug addiction, petty crime and the likes. At the same time the uptick in crime, alcoholism and drug use has nothing to do with the availability/price of substances… it has to do with the sense of desperation/hopelessness and anger within society. People are desperate, hopeless and bored out of their bracket so they turn to stupid alternatives to feel in control again. I myself am INCREDIBLY angry with the Australian government/the way they’ve handled this but I have the insight to see crime/vandalism and acts of degeneracy isn’t going to help anyone. Rather at this point I’d simply rather report from Australian society but for the timebeing I’m stuck here. I need to put my head down, finish my studies, get up and leave…

I’ve said it before, I believe Aussie society is on a downward trajectory for a multitude of reasons… one being we are literally scared of our own skin, more scared of the vaccine for covid-19 than the virus itself.

I rarely support authoritarian action and I certainly don’t support the extremes Australia has gone to regarding the violations of human rights/civili liberties to maintain covid zero when they could be vaccinating people… but I’d fully support getting the military involved and imposing a choice “you can get vaccinated or you can risk falling severely ill/allow hospitals to preferentially take in those who are partially/fully vaccinated and the elderly”.

Even then, 30-40% of those 70+ won’t take astrazenica for the minute 1 in 2 million risk of death. If that is the case, I seriously think you ought to be put at the back of the line in the event you do fall ill. People like this are the reason Sydney looks to be in a lockdown that I don’t support for at least another 2 months.

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They also hired many former Camden cops and, this part some like to ignore, increased the number of police over what it had been prior. So the improved outcomes could be the result of more cops as much as it could be the result of new training. And in fact, the replacement force was not only larger but was just as, if not more, aggressive as the previous force.

Finally, the reason the city police force was disbanded had nothing to do with corruption but rather it was a union busting move to cut costs; a de facto defunding. And it was done under the watch of a Republican governor.

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Perhaps my narrative is flawed. From what I’ve read in the past Camden’s prior department has consistently been described as corrupt. Wasn’t my intention to be disingenuous

Out of curiosity… Why not alter the dynamics of the existing department? Wouldn’t creating a new department, having to hire a ton of new recruits on top of the old cops, implementing new training protocols etc cost more?

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It’s almost as if these Democrats picked the worst possible time to hit the gas on their top-down anti-police campaign.

For those who insist this is some fringe policy, consider the following. We had Biden weighing in on the Chauvin trial. We had Harris bailing out rioters. Michael Browns mom gets put up in stage at the Democratic National Convention, while Officer Wilson gets his life shattered.

All to advance the narrative of a white supremacist police force, which is a top down Democrat campaign spanning years now. Those are just a few examples. I could go on and on. Remember the riots last year?

The results are now in front of us in a very serious way. This supposed fringe policy has managed to reduce police applications everywhere in the country. Millions of peoples lives became less safe, and it is only getting worse.

The police don’t want to do police work and become the next viral video when they’re asked to do something about the next high as kite asshole. The future of law enforcement doesn’t look very good when we rely on good people self-selecting for the job. Good people can simply choose other work.

If you don’t believe me, listen to the LEOs. Ask any LEO in the country right now. Or re-read LEOs in this thread instead of explaining that their personal observations are somehow off the mark.

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I can’t… We don’t have the same initiative here. To my knowledge he goal for reform by activists (who have any real influence) here is generally to focus on changing legislature enacted by parliament

Australians are very obedient towards authority. Hence why no one says shit when laws passed banning peaceful protests (in some circumstances) are passed

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Unions and corruption are one and the same.

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Everything is corrupt in New Jersey.

The governor wanted to cut state funding and busting the union was a way to do it.

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They must be because the politicians told us.

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I’ve been in two unions (without choice). Both were corrupt as hell. No politician had to tell me.

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And you pay taxes imposed on you by corrupt politicians, without choice. You don’t want corruption at the bottom? Get rid of it at the top.

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God forbid a president talk about a national issue. I know you’ll go all TDS here, but we had Trump crying about a football player because that was so serious.

This is false. I know Twitter told you it’s true, but it’s not.

You mean politicians used a person as a prop? Oh my!

By whom? Biden?

I remember the one from THIS year…

I found evidence of Biden wanting to defund police:

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/biden-rejects-defund-police-by-pumping-federal-funds-back-to-nyc/ar-AAM631R?ocid=uxbndlbing

“Let’s get the facts straight, I not only don’t want to defund the police. I want to add $300 million to their local budgets to deal with community policing to get police and communities back together again,” Biden told KDKA.

With many people calling attention to racial inequality in the justice system, Biden also addressed accusations that the U.S. is a racist country.

“No, but racism has to be dealt with. It’s a very small minority of people,” he told KDKA on Monday.

“You cannot send my daughter, who has her master’s degree in social work, she is one who engages in dealing with all those problems. … When you get a call to a third-story walk-up in a domestic dispute, you can’t send a social worker, because a social worker may get shot too. So what happens you, what do you do, you can send along a social worker with a police officer.”

But, but, defunding the police is a Dem policy:
“Let me be very clear about this,” Democratic National Committee communications director Xochitl Hinojosa said in July on “Bill Hemmer Reports” in reaction to the Barkan interview. “Joe Biden does not support defunding the police. And specifically, what he is saying is [that] he wants to make sure that police departments have the tools that they need in order to do their jobs.”

And those Republicans would never lie:

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She didn’t donate, she just tweeted support for the bail fund.

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I do my best to vote for people I don’t believe to be corrupt. I like living in the U.S. and choose to continue doing so. I didn’t choose to be in corrupt unions, and I got out of the state that made me join as fast as I possibly could.

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Is bail illegal? Is it right that a millionaire accused of rape or murder can pay a very high bail and be free while a poor person accused of a minor crime can’t afford bail, even if it is relatively low? Innocent until proven guilty, no? One’s freedom should not be held hostage by economics.

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You believe (hope) not all politicians are corrupt but why doesn’t that faith apply to unions? Are unions inherently corrupt? You have experience with two corrupt unions but how many corrupt politicians have you known of?

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I don’t know if you’re arguing for arguings sake or what. I was wrong about Harris donating money to bail out rioters. She merely openly supported bailing out rioters.

I also acknowledge Biden coming out against this train wreck policy LONG AFTER it was clear how awful it was. That’s not good leadership. Good leadership would have been speaking out against this from day 1. Instead he feeds the narrative of white supremacy while pretending to support the very people the narrative targets.

You write off a President weighing in on the Chauvin case and years of Democrats lying about facts to throw cops like Wilson under the bus. Again only one party is doing this.

You make no compelling argument for anything. It is, after all, impossible to lay this at the feet of anyone besides Democrats because there was not a single Republican working to undermine the police through policy or rhetoric.

It matters little that Biden is able to say a good thing once in a while when the entire Democrat party has been taking part in the anti cop campaign, starting with the fact free narrative of white supremacy in the USA. It is literally at the center of Democrat rhetoric and policy. Just yesterday Biden declared Jim Crow is back, which is another absurd lie.

And here you are, bizarrely arguing that I am wrong to lay the outcomes at the feet of Democrats.

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He spoke against it a year ago.

When exactly was day 1? Has Biden ever given the impression he was anti-police?

Can you post evidence of this?

Of course not because you will never change your mind. You post zero evidence to back up your claims while I post evidence. You say it’s a Dem policy yet, the president himself speaks out against it.

It matters a lot when Biden says something about Chauvin but nothing when he wants to increase police funding. I envy your ability to believe two things at the same time that contradict one another.

And again, you say the entire Dem party not only without any evidence but in the face of a Dem, the president no less, being against it.

No, I am claiming, rather I am pointing out the fact, that you provide no evidence to back up your beliefs. I am also stating the fact that no amount of evidence would ever change your mind. Evidence is an inconvenience when it comes to convictions.

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https://thehill.com/opinion/civil-rights/457049-time-to-retire-ferguson-narrative