Defunding the police force is not the way to go, as we need them to keep the people safe and enforce the laws. 

Jacqueline Helfgott, a professor of Criminal Justice at the Seattle University Department of Criminal Justice, stated her opinion about the consequences of defunding the police. She explained, “We need the police. The police are the first to respond to a wide variety of public safety concerns and violent crime. Crime would not stop if the police were disbanded or disbursed. If the officers are disbursed, there would be a pause in responding when citizens need 911 calls, fewer street officers in neighborhoods and towns, and a shortage of police ability to respond to major incidents that pose serious risks to public safety." 

Concerning the cons of defunding, she said, “If we defund the police, the vulnerable and the oppressed will be the people most impacted. Rich communities will employ private guards like they currently do, and impoverished communities will have to battle far harder than they already have to. Delays in police response and lack of police capacity would escalate fear of crime, make victims of crime vulnerable, and havoc on neighborhoods, particularly colored neighborhoods, far more than is already the case.” 

Meanwhile, as James Gagliano explained in his opinion on CNN, defunding the police is a life-risking move for the general public. They discovered in his investigation, “It is troubling that demands to defund or disband the police have become extremely common at a period when shootings and killings are on the increase in several big cities. Today, New York City is seeing a dangerous increase in gunplay throughout the five boroughs.

Crime has gone up in cities, and the most vulnerable to crime are poor BIPOC citizens. There can be justice reform to address police brutality and horrible cases like the George Floyd murder, but defunding police is a misguided knee-jerk reaction.

Train the police better, pay them a reasonable wage which minimizes the chance of corruption, and hold them accountable when needed...but do not defund! Defunding the police would be reacting to individual incidents rather than responding to the bigger picture where police are a key component to preserving peace within our cities.