ACAB

One of the main reasons why I am an advocate for police reform - which includes some defunding of the police - is because the police have no obligation or duty to protect you. I know it sounds crazy but it's true - the people seen as heroes because they protect and serve can choose what citizens they want to protect and when. In the 2005 court case Castle Rock vs Gonzales, a woman a restraining order against her estranged husband, who once took their children from her, with no arrangements made in advance to see them, and killed them before opening fire in a police station and being gunned down. The Supreme Court ruled that action was to be taken at police discretion, essentially saying, the police had no obligation or duty to protect her children despite there being a threat to them. So, police not having a duty to protect citizens resulted in three children being killed. Another case brought to the Supreme Court, DeShaney vs Winnebago, ruled that the state doesn't have to protect you from anything it did not create. In this case, it was a child that was beaten so badly by his father that he suffered severe brain damage. Apparently, the state has no obligation to protect the kid from violence/child abuse. Another more recent case saw a judge toss a case out because apparently police had no duty to protect students in a school shooting. These state agencies did not live up to the "protect and serve" motto but faced no legal consequences for doing so. I'm left with three questions:

1. Considering we prescribe to the beliefs that no one is above the law and everybody should be treated equally by the law (we're still working on that one) then why do police - the law - get to pick and choose who is worthy of their protection? Should they not be treating everyone equally?

2. If we're paying taxes that fund the police, something I'd consider a part of the social contract in which citizens give up money to the government in exchange for services like protection, then why do police have no obligation to protect me? Furthermore, why is it when these agencies do face consequences and are forced to pay as a result of lawsuits why is it my tax dollars that are spent?*

3. Since the police do little to prevent crime and don't even have the duty to intervene and protect American citizens, what are they getting so much money for?

*This is another reason I am for police reform: the fewer police there are doing bad and unjust nonsense or abusing their power and then ending up in legal trouble that some of my tax dollars pay for means my tax dollars can go to more beneficial things. Apparently, police misconduct cost taxpayers $300 million in 2019.

Thank you to this article for making me aware of the court cases. 

Defund and Divest the Police Explained

Obviously, the police don’t prevent crime, they respond to it and “treat it” in a way. Why should they be getting so much money for this? To me, it's clear that a lot of the massive police budget (WBM link) could be going to better use elsewhere. Where, you ask? Partially back into the communities that are heavily policed. But, instead of spending thousands of dollars on police officers and more militarized equipment, spend those thousands of dollars on things that would improve the communities and reduce crime. Essentially, spend less on the force policing these communities and more on the communities themselves. 

There are fewer cops in more well-off areas because crime isn't in these wealthy areas, right? And more cops are put in high crime areas in an effort to reduce the crime that's already there. But the presence of more police does not reduce crime - low-income areas consistently have higher crime rates than higher-income areas. So, if increasing people's wealth and opportunities reduce crime to a level where there is a minimal police presence, and adding more cops to low-income areas does not do that, wouldn't a more cost-effective approach to crime be to investing in these poorer communities and growing their wealth instead of spending thousands to police them?

Think about this in medical terms - would you rather be spending money treating a condition or curing/preventing the condition? Obviously, if you’re trying to make money the answer is treating the condition rather than curing it but if you’re actually trying to help people like doctors are supposed to do, then the answer is to spend money curing them. 

Why Are Police Budgets Consistently Increasing?

So, why is it that the police are consistently getting more and more money (WBM link), even when adjusted for inflation (WBM link), and even by Democrats like Biden (WBM link) that supposedly supported the Black Lives Matter and defund the police movements? Other than it simply being hard to change the status quo when something is perceived as "just the way things are," I see three main reasons for this:

• There is more money to be made in "treating" crime like police do rather than preventing it. Crime creates lots of jobs - police officers, probation officers, security guards, prison guards, and more- and makes lots of people money so many people benefit from crime (usually white people take these jobs and profit from crime since they are in positions to take these jobs, profiting off of the crimes others commit, usually minority groups). 

• No one denies that black people are more likely to live in low-income areas when compared to white people or that low-income areas typically have higher crime rates than more well-off areas. So, allowing low-income areas with high crime rates to continue being underfunded and heavily policed reaffirms many stupid racist beliefs and allows stupid racist people to push stereotypes of black people being inherently "lazy," "criminal," or "violent," compared to white people. Racist people who are trying to make their beliefs more socially acceptable can point to these poor living conditions and higher crime rates and say that it's proof that black people provide no value to society and are actually a burden on society (and by "society" they mean white people). 

• The myths of equality and meritocracy instilled in people by neoliberalism lead many people to believe that the people who live in these underfunded and heavily policed areas have plenty of opportunities to get out and make a better life for themselves but just choose not to because they're lazy and/or prefer to be criminals. Couple this with the fact that in America there is this constant fear that someone "underserving" might be getting a "handout" from the government, and many people would be opposed to having a portion of their tax dollars being spent on people they look down upon. This gets to be bordering on racist territory and brings to mind this quote (WBM link) from former president Lyndon B. Johnson: "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you." Essentially what I'm getting at here is that well-off people are ok with their tax dollars being used to police and "punish" the people in these low-income areas but do not want that same amount of money to be instead spent on things that might address the causes of crime because it would eliminate the feeling of superiority they have. 

We've all probably seen a bumper sticker with the Punisher skull symbol and the thin blue line flag incorporated into the same design to show support for law enforcement. I guarantee you there will be at least one car with a bumper sticker like this at every Scheel's parking lot in America. I suppose both police officers and Blue Lives Matter folks think it looks badass and their thought process ends there, but if you really think about it the Punisher skull is more of an anti-police symbol considering the character's comic origin. 

In the comics, Frank Castle becomes the Punisher after his wife and two children were murdered by the mob, and the police were no help. In fact, the police in the story were connected with the mob and corrupt. Both the Marvel fandom and Spider-Man fandom wiki pages state that it was the corrupt New York police force that prevented him from testifying in court and identifying his family's killers. 

https://www.npr.org/2022/06/21/1106372103/uvalde-shooting-timeline-3-minutes-pete-arredondo

https://www.texastribune.org/2022/06/20/uvalde-police-shooting-response-records/

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jacqueline-durand-dog-sitter-dog-attack/

https://twitter.com/DavidBegnaud/status/1504640275548762114

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/richard-ward-family-lawsuit-pueblo-county-colorado-deputies/

I'd also recommend browsing this subreddit if you have an interest in seeing more stuff like this.

Kentucky police quote Hitler in training PowerPoint, police commissioner resigns: Kentucky State police commissioner Rodney Brewer has resigned from his position after students in the journalism program at Louisville's duPont Manual High School first reported the story, obtaining a PowerPoint from a local attorney who got it from open-records request. The PowerPoint contains this quote attributed to Adolf Hitler: "The very first essential for success is a perpetually constant and regular employment of violence." This comes from Mein Kampf. The slide this is on also includes the phrase "meet violence with violence" and advises officers to be ruthless killers. The full PowerPoint can be viewed here and the slide in question is the 28th image in the gallery. Another slide features quotes from Confederate general Robert E. Lee and emphasizes "manliness" over "policy."

Police smash window of SUV carrying mom and child, beat the mother and the use child as propaganda, claiming they saved him from a riot: Philadelphia police surrounded an SUV which was driving away from a protest, seemingly not involved whatsoever, and began smashing windows before forcibly removing the driver, beating her, and a child from the car. The driver, 28-year-old Rickia Young, was following police orders to leave the area and was in the middle of a three-point turn when officers smashed out her windows with their batons. She was handcuffed and separated from both her 16-year-old nephew and two-year-old son for hours and no charges or citations were filed. She was later released without being charged. In reference to the video, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw said that what she saw was "disturbing." Here is another link to the video in case the other one stops working. 

Then sometime after the fact, the National fraternal Order of Police had the gall to post a picture of a police officer holding Young's child claiming that the child was "lost during the violent riots in Philadelphia wandering barefoot in an area that was experiencing complete lawlessness. The only thing this #PhiladelphiaPolice Officer cared about in that moment was protecting this child. We are not your enemy. we are the Thin Blue Line. And WE ARE the only thing standing between order and anarchy." The post can be seen below in Figure 2. Obviously this is a disgusting lie considering it was the fault of the police that this child was taken away from his mother and then exposed to the rioting. Police ended up paying her $2 million. 

So to review: police smashed up a car, pulled out the driver, beat the driver, separated her from her child, didn't charge the mother with any crime but still had her handcuffed for several hours, and used the child to push some narrative that the police were the good guys in this situation and had rescued the child from the riot when in reality they are the reason the child was in danger. 

Black police board president assaulted by police: In June of 2020, the president of the Chicago Police Board Ghian Foreman was struck by an officer during a protest in which police clashed with the protestors. Foreman stated that he was not participating in the protest but "coincidentally encountered the demonstration at a moment when it became confrontational." He apparently was struck in the leg with a baton four or five times. Foreman himself even identified the irony of the situation: “This is the duality I live with as a Black man in America, even one who is privileged to be part of systems of power. I am not exempt from what any other Black man faces on the streets.” 

Police chief apologizes for officer who faked a discrimination incident: Following a faked incident in which a Kansas police officer received a McDonald's drink with "fucking pig" written on it, Police Chief Brian Hornaday had to apologize for "all unnecessary, negative attention and pain that this incident has brought to every person who was affected." This came a day after he announced that a viral story of a police officer receiving a cup with "fucking pig" on it was fabricated. "We found that McDonald's and its employees did not have anything whatsoever to do with this incident. This was completely and solely fabricated by a Herington police officer who is no longer employed with our agency," said the chief. Apparently, this dumbass officer meant this as a joke (sure) but Hornaday identifies that he wishes the officer would have clarified as such prior to it becoming national news. 

Arkansas police officer flips pregnant woman's car: A law enforcement officer in Arkansas used a PIT - precision immobilizing technique - to hit a car of a pregnant woman, causing it to flip. Apparently, the woman was going 84 miles per hour in a 70-mile-per-hour zone and dashcam video shows the woman, Janice Harper, had slowed down moved into the right lane (presumably to pull over) and put her hazards on but the officer decided to use this PIT maneuver anyways like a dumbass. 

Alabama police captain says to put a bullet in the skulls of Biden voters: Alabama police captain Scott Walden has been put on administrative leave after commenting "they need to line up ev1 of them and put a bullet in their skull for treason" in reference to people who voted for Joe Biden (Figure 1). The statement is under investigation.

Colorado Springs police officer says "kill them all" regarding BLM protestors: Officer Keith Wrede expressed his desire for those with differing opinions on political and social issues to be killed using a pseudonym on a Facebook live video covering Black Lives Matter protests. The Colorado Springs police force itself acknowledges this.