I don't want to defund the police; I do want them to behave like they are part of the neighborhood and not its enforcers.
EDIT: Slashing funding ≠ defunding. It's a terrible, terrible argument that makes no sense, alienates people who'd otherwise support a more reasonable approach, and perfectly embodies the 'all or nothing' style of modern day performance politics.
People have been saying this for decades and decades. It doesn't work. How long does it have to not work before you accept that we need another strategy?
"Abolish the police" is a different, and I suspect much smaller, movement.
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/eng... - " to stop providing money for something, especially something official"
which is the same as:
https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/us/definition/ame... - "to officially end a law, a system, or an institution"
You can see where if you and I are having this conversation, probably there's a lot of other people like you and I who are talking past each other because the word is being either incorrectly deployed by proponents – or the proponents genuinely want to eliminate police departments.