This is why you put pressure in the opposite direction by taking away funding from these bloated and toxic organizations. In a functioning democracy the size of the budget shouldn't be dictated by the organizations themselves, but by the voters.
I think "defund the police" is the perfect message as it cuts straight to the heart of the matter and gives people something they can support that will directly make a difference and be difficult to work around via corruption. Police budgets are massively bloated, we should start slashing and reinvesting into social programs and public infrastructure.
It's a terrible, nonsensical 'branded comment' 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.
I actually think "defunding" is the perfect way to describe slashing funding. We should start defunding/slashing now because the budgets are huge. It may asymptotically approach zero, but we need to reverse the trend.
"Defund the police" correctly highlights the actual issue, which is why people get so upset about it. The "people who'd otherwise support a more reasonable approach" do not and have never supported a more reasonable approach. They like the police, but can't come out and say it directly so instead they deflect to "hey! I can't support defunding the police because I don't like the slogan".