I think the "defund the police" movement has a very unfortunate name. Many (hopefully most) people don't want to pull _all_ funding from the police. They want to appropriately redistribute funds. That means stopping spend on surplus military weapons and tanks, and instead put more money towards the proper training you mentioned.
This is not based in reality. How much money do you think police are spending on “surplus military weapons”? It is minimal and most of the purchase of surplus military items are mundane. They aren’t acquiring carriers and missiles. You mentioned tanks - are you literally claiming that local police departments are purchasing M1 Abrams battle tanks? Because that’s not happening.
Keep in mind the total transfer of military surplus equipment to police departments is just $5.1B over the entire lifetime of the program, since 1997 (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_Enforcement_Support_Offi...). The scale of this program has been completely blown out of proportion by activists.
There's no irony there and it was not a "screaming mob". I'm concerned about your sources of information.
Chief Best stepped down after constantly lying about the police actions and the protesters for months. Best was hired against the recommendations of the federal consent decree that SPD is under because of repeated excessive force and racial profiling issues, hand-picked by the mayor. The reasons given for her stepping down are relatively boring and unlikely to be the real reason, which probably involves political calculus and the mayor.
No, she didn’t lie, and yes, it was a screaming mob. A mob that literally showed up on city council members doorsteps, among others. I see you’re siding with the anarchists though, so this won’t be a productive conversation.
Accusing a black woman of racial profiling. Good lord. You people are more racist than anyone.
The consent decree did not recommend against hiring her (I just read it). It’s also over 8 years old, long before her time, and they have since found them compliant.
The data says they use force in only 0.3% of encounters, and significant force likely to cause injury is only a small fraction of that:
Further, the use of serious levels of force – force that causes or may be reasonably expected to cause substantial bodily injury – remained extraordinarily low, occurring in 21 of nearly 870,000 (0.0024% - or less than one quarter of one hundredth of a percent) of officer dispatches.
Considering how unwilling many perps are, 21 out of 870,000 is shockingly low. Well done on the reform!
There may be evidence of racism, but probably not the kind you think you are protesting. 42% of this force was used against white people, including 2 officer involved shootings, while 28% was against black people, including 0 officer involved shootings.
I watched her lie about something of which I have personal direct knowledge. Her claims have also been repeatedly contradicted by video evidence.
> and yes, it was a screaming mob. A mob that literally showed up on city council members doorsteps, among others.
Ah, the charged language. What's the difference between a "mob" and a protest making demands? This language reveals the sources you've been using for such information and they ain't great.
> I see you’re siding with the anarchists though, so this won’t be a productive conversation.
I would be curious to know what you think anarchists are.
> Accusing a black woman of racial profiling.
1. If this seems impossible to you, you should check out the actions of black cops. Profiling doesn't require the individual to be a white supremacist, e.g.
2. I didn't even claim that. I referred to the department.
> Good lord. You people are more racist than anyone.
In what way is anything I said racist?
> The consent decree did not recommend against hiring her (I just read it).
Ah, I misremembered which group it ran afoul of. Best's hiring was a mess. There was supposed to be a process: search committee finds options, Mayor makes a suggestion / selection, council confirms. What actually happened: search committee finds options, suggests hiring outside the department as the whole point was to institute reforms, and an outside hire would have no baggage in the department. The police union raises a ruckus about Best not being in the final 3 (she was already at SPD), this becomes news, and Durkan personally puts her on the finalist list, then selects her and council confirms.
> It’s also over 8 years old, long before her time, and they have since found them compliant.
The consent decree is a very low bar and the civilian oversight board has repeatedly stated that SPD is not following their recommendations or ready for end the consent decree. Despite this, Durkan and Best had applied for release from the consent decree in April. Part of that decree were issues regarding excessive force. As a reminder, SPD has been routinely beating protesters and indiscriminately teargassing protesters for nearly three months.
> The data says they use force in only 0.3% of encounters, and significant force likely to cause injury is only a small fraction of that:
> Further, the use of serious levels of force – force that causes or may be reasonably expected to cause substantial bodily injury – remained extraordinarily low, occurring in 21 of nearly 870,000 (0.0024% - or less than one quarter of one hundredth of a percent) of officer dispatches.
Based on police reporting. And remember, the vast majority of situations police are deployed to are in no way violent nor involve an arrest.
> Considering how unwilling many perps are, 21 out of 870,000 is shockingly low. Well done on the reform!
Uncritically accepting police number is going to lead you astray.
> There may be evidence of racism, but probably not the kind you think you are protesting. 42% of this force was used against white people, including 2 officer involved shootings, while 28% was against black people, including 0 officer involved shootings.
Those numbers imply a disproportionate racial impact already. Look at Seattle's demographics.
Unfortunately after all the lies and vitriol from activists, I don’t blame her for stepping down and quietly collecting her pension. Here, there have been weeks of mobs showing up at the homes of the mayor, city council, and the police chief, committing violence, destroying property, and threatening neighbors. Take a look at this account of what happened at the police chief’s neighborhood (https://lynnwoodtimes.com/2020/08/02/hundreds-of-blm-support...):
> A crowd of about 200 persons, mostly white men and women in their twenties, were dressed in black with masks and black hoods and carried signs that read “Black Lives Matter.” Black Lives Matter protestors shouted profanity and insults at neighbors, took license plate information on vehicles, took pictures of homes, and asked little kids who lived in the neighborhood what schools they attended.
