What is your opinion on defunding the police? POLL.

[KWR65]

34 votes, 1 pass | Time left: Time expired
	Yes. I support defunding the police.
	8 (24%)
	No. I support reforming the local police departments.
	26 (76%)
	1 DU member did not wish to select any of the options provided.
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[Fla Dem]

1. Defunding as in reallocating some of their funding to more community policing and services.

[empedocles]

2. 'Defunding' word is election bad news.

[TheBlackAdder]

10. Conservative minds, which lack nuance and critical methods, will see in black & white as anarchy.

[zipplewrath]

3. The two are the same.

The defund expression is about reforming the departments. It's the Camden approach.

[Lucinda]

12. + 1

[TheBlackAdder]

13. I wish people would not glorify Chris Christie's Camden model. He did it to fuck Camden residents.

.

That Bloomberg article is bullshit and only covers pro-Christie points.

The increases in security are in part due to the surveillance system, which tracks everyone leaving their home or in their backyards, their car movement, etc. It has nothing to do with the change of the police department. Unfortunately, most of the crime was petty drug transactions which adversely affected the AA community and incarcerated many young males.

Christie's goal was to cut police spending, by replacing the police department, made up mostly by Camden residents with a county police department that brought in mostly White suburban officers. The Camden PD officers were given an ultimatum, either accept a 30-50% cut in wages and benefits or look for another job. Entry level officers were paid what was NJ's adjusted poverty wages in the upper $20K range, and most of the junior officers were struggling to feed themselves and pay rent.

The White suburban officers just used Camden County PD as a stepping stone to get experience before jumping ship to a rural police department. Most NJ police departments don't like to hire rookies because they have to pay for their training at Sea Girt so they look for officers who already went through the that State Police Training Academy facility. CCOD would pay for that training and give the officers experience, so they were willing to accept the poverty wages offered.

Christie's other goal was to smash the NJEA (teacher's union) as his prior job was a lobbyist, and part owner of school outsourcer before becoming governor. His aimed to weaken the Camden School system even more by vouchering a lot of students and causing the layoffs of unionized teachers.

====

So, while the Bloomberg article pains a Pollyanna view of the Camden County PD, there's a lot more to it that was unreported. Also, the Rutgers, CCCC and Rowan campuses added scores of unarmed security officers to provide campus security and security to the PATCO rail system. This cut a lot of crime down.

.

[Beakybird]

4. "REFORM" by defunding.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. I support abolishing the police.

[SoonerPride]

6. White people telling black activists which words they get to use

Yeah. That’s very progressive

[brush]

21. You again. I told you I'm black and think "defund the police" is...

the dumbest possibly wording ever. Why don't you get "defund the police" means to most people—get rid of the police, which scares the shit out of anyone who just might be on the fence about trump. The last thing we need to have them thinking Dems want to have a wild, wild west society where anything goes.

Of course they're going to retreat back to voting for the orange asshole who's now shouting "law and order."

We can't be that dumb is we want to win in Nov.

[OhZone]

7. We should not even be using the word "defunding" at all.

Very dumb word to use.

[Frasier Balzov]

8. A terribly alienating expression which can only help Trump.

[Initech]

9. Reform? Absolutely. Defund? Hell no.

They should not have weapons of war to use against citizens.

[TheCowsCameHome]

11. "Defund" is political suicide.

n/t

[Goodheart]

14. What sort of person thinks society can function without police?

Sorry, but I can't respect that opinion.

[RainCaster]

15. If 'defund' means tear down the whole system and start over, count me in!

Police unions have too much power in restoring abusive cops to their old jobs. They need to be held legally responsible for any future actions of that officer, and not the city.

That's only one problem.

There are many issues of training, leadership and city mismanagement that have to be looked at as a whole.

[mvd]

16. I don't think anyone wants to abolish the police

Perhaps we could use a better word, but I do support defunding as in redistribution in some cities and more reform.

[brush]

17. defunding the police is the dumbest messaging ever.

Why give repugs that ammo for their ads? Why fire up their voters to turn out?

Call it re-imagine policing, or police the police, anything but defund the police which makes one think "get rid of police".

[hadEnuf]

18. Police Reform.

I believe that was the term used in the 1960's and 70's and it resonated.

[brush]

19. That's good too. We can work with that.

[hadEnuf]

20. Here is some Wiki history on police reform efforts. Kind of an interesting read.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_reform_in_the_United_States