Read on Twitter
1/CONSIDERING POLICE BUDGET REFORM. About a week ago I asked friends on another platform to share useful information about the movement to Defund the Police. I wanted to understand. I got 58 responses and this morning I started reading (and watching). Here's what I've covered
2/First up was this @policylink Webinar regarding abolishing the police altogether. It is 90 minute webinar:
https://www.policylink.org/equity-in-action/webinars/police-abolition?fbclid=IwAR3APSF4OpJBTg0rQLcS9Ph7iUXP4-VTDMekE1aMU6dpaD2qRdsFVs5oP4w
https://www.policylink.org/equity-in-action/webinars/police-abolition?fbclid=IwAR3APSF4OpJBTg0rQLcS9Ph7iUXP4-VTDMekE1aMU6dpaD2qRdsFVs5oP4w
3/This is from @IlyaSomin - a piece that is customarily well articulated: https://reason.com/2020/06/11/rights-and-wrongs-of-defunding-the-police/
4/This @interruptcrim link and source material was fascinating. The upshot is that women and LGBTQ residents are really catching a lot of the misery of increased criminalization: https://www.interruptingcriminalization.com/?fbclid=IwAR2FkFVEv2o5P8LNona3xJUBl0MLq6dmL0HSQ_g9qxbQg_tR57J-Yk_97v4
5/You can spend quite a bit of time on this @C_Resistance site, which focuses on abolition of law enforcement. It is very detailed and has a range of videos and nuggets: http://criticalresistance.org/abolish-policing/?fbclid=IwAR2TwTZ8siX4s2jU2wu64ajfZkKlVO1AwkOQY4Nwil1QkQmOB2Shnw4wayw
6/A friend recommended this Twitter thread from @BarackObama that presents a range of perspectives: https://twitter.com/BarackObama/status/1281290980264751111
7/I'd add that this is a lot of reading. Most people really won't have the time to sit for a few hours and consume all this information. That's understandable, but for those who are stuck at home and want to give more thought to the topic I thought this thread could be helpful
8/Here's a page that I clicked through to and read one piece on Alternatives to Police: https://defundthepolice.org/
9/An interesting piece by @ATabarrok that includes research that more police *increase* safety: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/underpoliced-and-overprisoned-revisited.html
10/From the same Marginal Revolution site, there was this piece about what happened in Camden on this topic. While I don't agree with the article's reference to weakening police unions, there is good data included: https://marginalrevolution.com/marginalrevolution/2020/06/revisiting-camden.html
11/This @cnn piece on the CAHOOTS program of @WhiteBirdClinic refers to an over 30-year effort to have more mental health professionals involved in community response: https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/05/us/cahoots-replace-police-mental-health-trnd/
12/If you want more direct information about @WhiteBirdClinic's work that focuses on alternative responses to police for certain community responses, here is a direct link: https://whitebirdclinic.org/what-is-cahoots/
13/This @nytimes Opinion piece includes data that Black men saw a 9-month increase in life expectancy with increased policing between the 70s and the 90s. Seems that may not be the whole story, though: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/13/opinion/sunday/two-lessons-of-the-urban-crime-decline.html
14/On a personal note, I've been working closely with law enforcement for months and have seen firsthand genuinely compassionate @SDSheriff's Homeless Assistance Resource Team Deputies. This is my direct experience, not something I read about:
15/On a more general note, it seems worth asking whether broadly speaking we need to view our entire social safety net - and the social spring board to opportunity - differently. Whether the issue isn't "this OR that" but the right amounts of both - and the resources to do it.
16/Finally, for now, this @radleybalko piece is a pretty stunning compilation of the evidence of systemic racism in the structures of enforcement. This is NOT saying individual police are racist, though of course some may be. It is about the system: https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2020/opinions/systemic-racism-police-evidence-criminal-justice-system/
17/I wanted to leave the piece above in the thread but the more I read it, the more I realize that a lot of the cited stats are not evidence in support of the claim of systemic racism. Gonna keep reading, but please just have a critical eye if you are checking that one out.
18/Another update: When you get past the traffic stop data and into the misdemeanor and drug arrest sections of the piece in 16, you see much more racial impact that is less likely to be attributable to some other cause than race.
