SHOULD WE DEFUND THE POLICE?

The topic of defunding the police has been in the news a great deal in the past few months. It really boiled up in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the subsequent Black Lives Matter public demonstrations. While I am not an authority on law enforcement, I do have a personal experience that I thought I would share with you as we contemplate the difficult problem of the nexus between the police and society.

To be honest, I am not clear on what people mean when they say "Defund the Police." If they mean abolish the police department, I would say that is a non-starter. I do not know any reasonable person who thinks we should abolish law enforcement. If they mean reduce budgets for certain aspects of policing, then we are open to discussion. If they mean replacing police officers with other social contacts, again, this is open for discussion. Obviously, a lot of work needs to be done to improve relations between the police and black and brown minorities. Black lives do indeed matter. I am just not sure defunding is the best approach to solving this problem.

While I have never been in law enforcement myself, I have a good deal of second-hand experience in it. My father was the chief of police of the Pensacola FL police department in the 1960's and 1970's. He started as a civilian guard at the Pensacola Naval Air Station, the big navy base there, in the Second World War. After the war, he became a common beat cop in the City of Pensacola police department. At that time, the Pensacola waterfront was a run-down, seedy slum filled with unsavory bars and all sorts of illegal activities. Dad spent a lot of time dealing with drunk sailors. Soon, he moved up to "Desk Sergeant," the one who presided over the office side of the police department. He was an intelligent man with a forceful personality and soon made himself known to the important people in town. He was a great believer in police public relations. He would go talk to any group that invited him. He even starred in a weekly local TV show about police work. He was a natural leader: 33rd degree Scottish Rite Freemason (only six in FL), chair of his church's Board of Deacons for 50 years, officer in many civic clubs. When the job of chief came open, he was the natural choice to run the 100+ police department.

Police work is difficult now, but I can assure you it was much harder in the civil rights era of the 1960's and 70's. The police were pulled by white supremacists on one side and civil rights reformers on the other. Our telephone rang off the hook morning, noon, and night. Whether the call was about a riot or a parking ticket, Dad never refused to talk to the caller. Some days were frightening. A rock went through our car window one night; death threats; menacing intimidation; and plenty of public criticism over seemingly every move. Through it all, Dad managed to keep the police department on an even keel, and even to introduce landmark reforms. He started the first professional standards for the department. These have been developed ever since. Today, the Pensacola Police Department is a respected local institution with relatively good relations throughout the city.

I realize that times have changed. Police work is somewhat different today, particularly thanks to modern technology. What used to be the radio dispatch is now the software rich computer. And, as we all know, everyone has a cell phone, so practically every move of the police can be recorded and displayed on the media.

So, back to our problem. The issue is how to improve the relations between the police and the black and brown communities among us. Here are my suggestions:

1---Pay. Police are underpaid everywhere. They are on the same level as firemen, nurses, and teachers. It is hard to recruit well-qualified, young officers on low salaries. We have learned in the pandemic that all of these professions are essential to society. We ought to pay them what they are worth which is a lot more than they get now.

2---Apparently, we need better screening of applicants to weed out in advance those psychologically or otherwise unsuited to this profession. We also need the best in supervision of younger officers and lots of ongoing training, particular in race relations. Police work is dangerous and demanding. Officers often have to make split-second decisions of life and death. The more preparations they have for the enormous stresses of this line of work, the better.

3---Society expects too much of police officers. They often have to be psychiatrists, psychologists, social workers, marriage counselors, and nurses. Most officers are high school graduates, not well-prepared to function in all these capacities. I do agree with the "defunders" that more money needs to go to pay for these services and take them off the backs of the police.

4---Stop using the police as a military institution. Unfortunately, over the past few decades, some police departments have developed more as military units sent out to stop citizens that may be only exercising their constitutional rights of free speech and assembly. 

4---We have gone a long way, but we need to continue developing strong local ties between the police officers and the local neighborhoods they serve.

5---While demanding ethical and moral behavior of the police, and punishing those officers who act contrary to these, society must uphold its law enforcement institutions. Police men and women put their lives on the line every day, every time they put on that badge and walk out the door. They cannot be sure they will return home alive. Officers need to know that the community they are serving values their service and will have their backs. When there is an unsolvable doubt, the benefit of the doubt must be given to the officer on the scene. Only he or she knows the full context of what happened in any given incident.

So, should we "defund" the police? If we mean to abolish the police department, the answer must be "No." We need to increase funding but to do it wisely and to the best effect. George Floyd and a long list of black and brown victims of police misconduct tell us loudly and clearly that something is wrong in our law enforcement. We must right what is wrong. Doing away with the police department would be throwing the baby out with the bath water. We would be worse off. We must not disband our police departments. We must improve them. It can be done. I know from experience, from a remarkable father who lived to be 96 years old.