Ex-top cop Bratton: Defund the police? We're at the center of the storm, doing the jobs no one else wants
Fox News
#DefundThePolice was a catchy hashtag driving policy. However, policy needs to be based on facts, figures, and an understanding of the issues.
But there’s a reason those responsibilities have fallen to the police over the years: society in general, and the state in particular, decided it did not have the willpower or the funds to run programs that would handle them successfully. Mental institutions closed; shelters became unwelcoming and unsafe; addiction services became underprioritized and overwhelmed. You can’t defund an institution to punish it and think that this action is going to make it better. So who ended up as the dumping ground for the homeless in the 1970s? The police. The drug addicts of the ’70s and ’80s? The police.More Related News