Shitty Cops

This broke yesterday:

The Minneapolis city council has pledged to disband the city’s police department and replace it with a new system of public safety, a historic move that comes as calls to defund law enforcement are sweeping the US. 

Speaking at a community rally on Sunday, a veto-proof majority of councilmembers declared their intent to “dismantle” and “abolish” the embattled police agency responsible for George Floyd’s death – and build an alternative model of community-led safety. The decision is a direct response to the massive protests that have taken over American cities in the last two weeks, and is a major victory for abolitionist activists who have long fought to disband police and prisons. 

I’m sure the FoxNews fear chorus has already started chanting about how Democrats are going to leave our cities without police. Scary! Well, Camden, NJ did it a few years ago, and they now have the lowest homicide rate since the 80’s. And, no riots:

That Camden was able to demonstrate peacefully without escalation looked like a sign of progress in a city that’s one of the country’s poorest and was once considered its most dangerous. “What we’re experiencing today in Camden is the result of many years of deposits in the relationship bank account,” says Scott Thomson, Camden’s chief of police until 2019. He led the city’s high-profile pivot to community policing from 2013 until last year and oversaw what turned out to be a steep decline in crime. Homicides in Camden reached 67 in 2012; the figure for 2019 was 25. Over the past seven years, the department has undertaken some of the most far-reaching police reforms in the country, and its approach has been praised by former President Barack Obama.

By “disbanding” their police force and creating a new county-wide police force, Camden was able to increase the size of its force, and adopt a new use-of-force policy which has led to a 95% drop in excessive force complaints. They did it to bust the union, though the county officers are now represented by a new union.

The Democratic mayor of Minneapolis opposes the reforms that his council will pass, and I’m guessing a lot of other mayors and Democratic elected officials and candidates don’t like the notion of defunding the police. I’m sure there are policy arguments, but much of that opposition at this moment comes from fear of political backlash. Here’s the thing: no matter which reforms Democrats advocate, Trump and Fox will attack us as “soft on crime”. Why not choose a reform that rids us of entrenched police unions run by MAGA hats?

What Does ‘Defund’ or ‘Disband’ Mean?Post + Comments (153)

I’m sure you’ve all seen the video of a 75 year-old man being pushed down by Buffalo Police in riot gear Thursday night. By the way, that man, Martin Gugino, is a peace activist undergoing chemotherapy. He’s awake, alert and oriented as of the last report I saw. The officers who did it were suspended after the video surfaced, but not before the Buffalo Police issued a statement that he had tripped and fallen. This video is a two-fer, because it not only shows that cops will push down old people, but that they’ll walk right by them even when they’re bleeding, instead of rendering aid. I think it was that latter action that really made this a damning video. If they had immediately stopped and tried to help the guy, maybe the rest of this story would have turned out somewhat differently.

Yesterday, reacting to the head of the police union’s goading, 57 Buffalo cops resigned from the special unit. That union head is a real piece of work:

“Our position is these officers were simply following orders from Deputy Police Commissioner Joseph Gramaglia to clear the square,” said Buffalo Police Benevolent Association President John Evans. “It doesn’t specify clear the square of men, 50 and under or 15 to 40. They were simply doing their job. I don’t know how much contact was made. He did slip in my estimation. He fell backwards.”

That made it a three-fer, because those cops demonstrated that they will stick to a lie no matter what, that they will try to hold a city hostage by quitting their special assignments when they might be needed the most instead of letting the process play out, and that giving cops an order to do something justifies, in the mind of their union leaders, any tactics whatsoever.

Here’s the thing: New York State has plenty of resources to fill in for those 57. Those cops can now hand out parking tickets and ride the desk filing paperwork until hell won’t have it anymore, and we’ll be fine. The union heads, locked in a MAGA bubble that doesn’t understand that people are sick of being scared for their lives every time they encounter a cop, and the cops who follow them, are playing this entirely wrong.

Buffalo 2020Post + Comments (89)

He took over the investigation on Sunday, and today:

Attorney General Keith Ellison’s office on Wednesday upgraded charges against the former Minneapolis police officer who knelt on George Floyd’s neck and charged the other three officers at the scene with aiding and abetting murder.

Also, this city councilman’s long thread (this is the start) is getting a lot of attention. The gist is that council members suggesting even the mildest of reforms could expect Minneapolis cops to drag their feet responding to calls in their district. He’s talking about disbanding the police and starting over. (Click on the date of the tweet and then click on “Show This Thread” to read the whole thing — it’s long.)

What a Difference Three Days MakePost + Comments (41)

I don’t like the rioting and looting happening with the protests, either. But I’m gonna drop some galaxy brain shit here for the slow among us- HAVE THE POLICE STOP MURDERING PEOPLE SO THERE IS NO PRETEXT FOR LOOTING.

I mean seriously- reform the police. It will stop the protesting, it will stop the billions spent each year by cities and locales for payments in court cases, and… it WILL MAKE POLICE SAFER.

Now I know that means it is going to require some of the brutish cops giving up their ultraviolence and will mean that the so-called “good cops” will have to hold the “bad cops” accountable, and may require the public flogging of every PBA head, but I think we can do it.

There’s An Easy SolutionPost + Comments (69)