A reasonable question asked by those confused about “defund” and “abolish” is: so how would violent crime be handled?

Important to note that the police spend almost none of their time — 4% — dealing with violent crime https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/upshot/unrest-police-time-violent-crime.html

Studies have shown that police presence/activity does drive down violence.

And also, we know police *solve* very few violent crimes — leaving victims without justice, perpetrators free to commit more violence and communities with little faith in police https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2018/national/murder-with-impunity/

The backlash to proposals to defund police often assumes any cuts to policing would be cuts to violent crime response — which is why it’s important to note that huge chunks of police activity and spending have nothing to do with preventing violence or servicing it’s victims