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THIS is part of what's behind "Defund the Police." Believe it or not, it--and by extension what some have started invoking as "Defund the MILITARY" has a certain RESONANCE with me as a senior military leader. And it took a man with a foot in both worlds-- @SkinnerPm--to make me 1/ https://twitter.com/aamullanee/status/1281324799562825728
...see it. The problem is, we like spending OUR OWN money--so we're reluctant to tell government to TAKE IT, and we won't generally do so unless there's a crisis.
Guess what? EFFECTIVE, EVIDENCE-BASED PREVENTATIVE MEASURES AREN'T A CRISIS. They're kinda THE OPPOSITE OF ONE. 2/
Guess what? EFFECTIVE, EVIDENCE-BASED PREVENTATIVE MEASURES AREN'T A CRISIS. They're kinda THE OPPOSITE OF ONE. 2/
So things like good schools, social services, mental health programs, housing & food security programs? They're ALWAYS starved for funds. And ya know what THAT does?
IT CREATES A CRISIS.
Now THAT can get funding, because there's crime in the streets! And what does it take to 3/
IT CREATES A CRISIS.
Now THAT can get funding, because there's crime in the streets! And what does it take to 3/
...handle crime? You guessed it! POLICE! And the worse the crisis is, the easier it is to get money...for more, and MORE MILITARIZED, police. Pat Skinner basically explained how we GOT here.
And it struck a chord. Because about 15 years ago, when we were trying to get our act 4/
And it struck a chord. Because about 15 years ago, when we were trying to get our act 4/
...together in Iraq, I'd been reading a series of books by my friend Tom Barnett. Tom argued that we had a 'Department of War' (DoD) to handle the existential threats, and we had a 'Department of Peace' (State, to keep us from having to GO TO war). 5/
What we lacked--and needed--was a 'Department of Everything Else,' to handle all the messy stuff in between: Now we in the military RECOGNIZED that most of this--economic development, civil governance & rule of law, criminal justice reform, agricultural development, public 6/
...health, education--was NOT OUR JOB. But nobody else HAD THE CAPABILITIES TO DO IT, because Congress hadn't been investing in it. But it NEEDED TO GET DONE, right? BBECAUSE THERE WAS A CRISIS. Catch-22.
Listening to Pat Skinner--and looking back on it, with my eyes opened-- 7/
Listening to Pat Skinner--and looking back on it, with my eyes opened-- 7/
ITS THE SAME WITH OUR CRIMINAL JUSTICE SYSTEM. Mental illness IS NOT THEIR JOB. Housing the homeless IS NOT THEIR JOB. They don't have the right tools, or competencies, OR MINDSET. But nobody else has the capacity to do it, BECAUSE GOVERNMENTS--WE, THE PEOPLE--HAVE NOT BEEN 8/
...INVESTING IN IT. But they (governments) tell them (criminal justice), homeless on the streets is a crime. Violent acting out--even due to mental illness?--A CRIME. And there's a crisis, right? Lotta this crimin' goin' on. So they try to bang that screw in with their hammer. 9/
So here we are. But if there's a silver lining to this cloud, it's that EVERYBODY'S EYES ARE ON THE PROBLEM. The criminal justice system, who KNOW they're not the tool for the job. The social services, who know they ARE but don't have the people or resources. The governments, 10/
...who need to pass the laws & budgets to ACTUALLY CHANGE ANYTHING. And 'We the People,' who have to elect THE RIGHT governments, give them a mandate & raise/reallocate the taxes TO PAY FOR IT. So YEAH 'defund the police'--just do it SMART; you'll even have cops THANKING you. 11/
But recognize that while those laws & budgets get passed...to make the resources available...to start hiring the right people and giving them the right training, in the right social services, so the human problems that GIVE RISE TO all that crimin' can START GETTING SOLVED, 12/
...you're probably going to need to raise taxes...because crime rates aren't gonna plunge the moment you flip the switch. PLEASE don't expect them to, or you'll give up and demand something else be tried, before THE IMPACT OF any change can be felt (this is MY research). 13/
So you'll have to pay to set all that up WHILE YOU STILL HAVE TO PAY FOR MORE POLICING THAN YOU'LL NEED WHEN IT'S OVER. And that means you're also gonna need to pay FOR POLICE REFORM, to dump & blacklist racist, abusive cops, to teach DE-escalation, to CHANGE THE CULTURE from 14/
..."war on crime" to "neighbors helping neighbors" ( @SkinnerPm) & TO MEASURE YOUR OUTCOMES, so you know when you CAN, really, SUSTAINABLY, close the cycle & pull all that excess, 'emergency' funding from the criminal justice system.
Because there won't be a crisis anymore. 15/15
Because there won't be a crisis anymore. 15/15
