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>>js2+(OP)
I'm heartened by city council members Tammy Morales in Seattle, Nury Martinez in LA, and Steve Fletcher in Minneapolis who are all seriously discussing significantly defunding or disbanding their police departments. While we've had protests like this in the past, I don't think I've ever seen so many places seriously asking how much we need our police, and how equipped they should be.

Clearly, the answer is that police departments are filling roles they do not need to fill, and have expensive, military style equipment they do not need to have. I hope we see more cities bringing these ideas to the table.

>>Pfhrea+48
" who are all seriously discussing significantly defunding or disbanding their police departments."

It's ridiculous for the mayor to be doing this. Where there is crime, policing is needed. Cities that have tried to cut back in the past (the impetus usually being budget) usually end up with problems, and it usually doesn't work out.

The number of 911 calls is rising rapidly.

Surely, there's an opportunity to 'not buy big surplus toys from the Army' but I suggest that this is not a hugely meaningful budget line item.

The problem in America is absolutely not 'over-policing', it's that police are asked to play more roles many of which they might not be suited to, and of course, some police are far too aggressive, which is also driven by the great prevalence of guns in the population.