Defund the Police

On March 13, 2020, 26-year-old Breonna Taylor was murdered when police forcibly entered her home using a no-knock warrant. Since her murder, Louisville officials have banned the use of no-knock warrants in the city, and her family received $12 million following a wrongful-death lawsuit. Out of the four Louisville officers involved, only one, Brett Hankison, was charged with wanton endangerment for his actions, and none of the officers were charged for her death.

On May 25, 2020, 46-year-old George Floyd was arrested after purchasing a pack of cigarettes with what was believed to be a counterfeit $20 bill. The four Minneapolis police officers responding to the incident were seen violating protocol and demonstrating complete disregard for Floyd’s life as they pinned him to the ground. As Floyd was held down, officer Derek Chauvin kneeled on his neck for over eight minutes, ultimately leading to Floyd’s slow and painful death—all caught on camera.

The police involved in these horrific murders did not exhibit merely a lack of proper training, but a lack of care for these lives—specifically, these Black lives.

Time and time again, these heinous examples of police brutality make headlines in the United States. And after far too many similar incidents, George Floyd’s death finally planted the seed of change, marking a surge of growth and support for the Black Lives Matter movement this summer. Many have called to defund the police, and this demand has gained traction. The question is, what exactly does it mean to ‘defund the police?’

At first, defunding the police can sound like an extreme statement. Many believe that it means calling for a nation without law enforcement or protection. However, there is a distinct difference between defunding the police and simply eliminating the police force, although it is fairly easy to confuse the two concepts without a full understanding of what “defunding” means.

Defunding the police means redistributing funding from the police force to other community departments. This concept focuses on more preventative measures by dedicating resources to departments that are typically underfunded but could play a critical role in reducing crime.

For example, Los Angeles has a long history of police brutality and corruption, as seen from Rodney King’s ruthless beating in 1991 to the disproportionate numbers of “stops, searches, and seizures and excessive force” targeting Black residents in low-income housing. At the same time, Los Angeles also has the largest number of residents living in poverty than any major city in the United States. Yet in spite of these numbers, Los Angeles’ budget from 2016-2017’s fiscal year, totaling $8.8 billion, dedicated $1.5 billion—16.9% of the budget—to the police department. In contrast, The Department of Housing and Community Investment received about $65 million, just .7% of the budget. About $168 million was dedicated to “Non-departmental General City purposes,” which includes resources for the homeless community, substance abuse and mental health programs, and other community programs. In total, these resources made up about 1.9% of the city’s budget.

Many protestors demand greater funding for mental health community resources in particular, as trained mental health professionals will be better equipped to respond to mental health crisis calls than the police. A 2017 research study from the Treatment Advocacy Center found that “an average of 10% of law enforcement agencies' total budgets was spent responding to and transporting persons with mental illness in 2017.” However, police officers are typically ill-equipped to effectively de-escalate situations involving mentally ill people.

As just one example, 37-year-old Daniel Covarrubias, a Native American man, was walking home from St. Clare Hospital in Lakewood, Washington, on April 21, 2015. He had struggled with depression and substance abuse issues throughout his life, and on the night of his death he was released from the hospital after complaining of hallucinations. Police sirens blared behind him, frightening Covarrubias and sending him to hide behind a large stack of wood in a lumberyard. The police followed Covarrubias, shouting at him to “show his hands,” and as a response he raised a dark object toward the police. After the police shot Covarrubias nine times, killing him, the officers discovered the object in his hand was not a gun as they believed, but a cellphone.

Daniel Covarrubias was in the midst of an emotional crisis, and the officers involved in his shooting were criticized for failing to de-escalate the situation. As they were unable to identify his panic in the moment as mental illness—and as a response to the added tension brought by police presence—the police ultimately fueled the already-tense situation, leading to Covarrubias’ death. Unfortunately, this scenario is one we’ve seen far too often, as Daniel Covarrubias is merely one of countless others who suffered from mental illness and were killed at the hands of the police.

A study from The Washington Post found that in the first six months of 2015, the police shot and killed 124 people suffering from mental illness during an emotional crisis. Oftentimes, police don’t have the training to discern whether a person is suffering from a mental illness. These situations quickly escalate to violence that could be better handled by a mental health professional with the training to resolve those high-tension situations. According to a recent study by the Police Executive Research Forum, they [new recruits] receive only eight hours of training to de-escalate tense situations and eight hours learning strategies for handling the mentally ill.” On the other hand, states typically require mental health professionals to complete about 2,000 to 3,000 hours of supervised training, including time spent working with mental health patients and crisis prevention training, before they can receive their license. Even after they complete their training, mental health professionals are expected to continue educating themselves on updated practices on handling mental health patients.

There are many who continue to argue that defunding the police is an unrealistic fantasy, and our efforts would be better placed in reforming the police force. However, when we look at the scenarios like George Floyd’s, Elijah McClain’s, or Eric Garner’s story from six years ago—with its unsettling similarities to George Floyd’s murder—it remains clear that no amount of training or reform can resolve the real issue at hand.

There are too many lives—too many Black lives—that we’ve lost from violent encounters with the police. Those who argue for reform over defunding the police fail to realize that these murders are not due to lack of training, or failure to follow protocol in the heat of the moment. They show a complete disregard for Black lives, and that isn’t something that should have to be taught.

It’s time to start fighting for a nation with all of our best interests in mind, and it’s up to us to ensure this change will come. As college students, we have the power to use our voices to make a difference for our generation and for those, like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, who were gone before substantial change could be achieved.

Important Resources:

What We Know About Breonna Taylor’s Case and Death

Black Feminism and the Movement for Black Lives

What Exactly Does It Mean to Defund the Police?

What Defunding the Police Really Means, Black Lives Matter

Angela Davis on Movement Building, “Defund the Police” and Where We Go from Here

What You Should Know About the Prison Industrial Complex

Anti-Racism Resource List

Petitions to Sign:

Justice for Breonna Taylor

#JusticeForBre

Black Lives Matter #DefundThePolice