Thread by @michaelharriot

I can:

A thread.

https://twitter.com/ouninpohja4661/status/1387944491089240067

Now, first let me say that I have never been a police officer, so I can’t tell you if you’re doing it wrong.

But facts can.

So what happens if we defund or abolish the police?

Most people say: But what will happen if we don’t have someone to solve crimes?

Well, police don’t really do that.

Fewer than half of all crimes are reported to police. And fewer than half of those crimes are solved.

That means (lemme do the math in my head) police are operating at about 20% efficiency.

Is there any other profession in the world that is so resistant to change but so inefficient? If 80% of McDonalds customers received incorrect orders or no orders at all, they’d be out of business.

But what could we do?

Well, what if, instead of putting guys who have experience in shooting guns and giving out traffic tickets, in charge of crime, what if we just hired and trained people to do that? You don’t need to get firearms training to track down stolen TVs or interview witnesses.

But crime-solving is only part of a cop’s job. What about emergencies? Cops kill unarmed people, people in mental health crises, domestic disputes etc all the time.

You know how we always talk about cops needing deescalation training?

Why not just hire the deescalater dude?

We send firefighters to fires, EMTs to medical emergencies and dudes with guns everywhere else. Why can’t 911 route mental health emergencies to mental health responders?

WHY DO WE ASK COPS TO DO THIS SHIT?

It’s almost like we want to get it wrong

And what would we do with all the cops sitting around waiting to give out speeding tickets?

There’s an app for that.

No seriously, there’s literally a computerized way to enforce traffic now. See, cops use a computer to see if you’re speeding…

Then they check your tag & license in a computer, and then enter a citation in a computer…

Where’s the part where the guy with the gun speeding through traffic (to stop us from speeding) keeps us safer?

I’m asking for a friend.

No, really. I know a cop who can’t figure it out either. It doesn’t make people safer. It criminalizes the poor.

al.com/opinion/2021/0…

Here’s another thing: Cops create crime. When you read about a city’s crime rate, a lot of that is police-manufactured crime. If cops don’t search anyone looking for drugs, the rate of felony possession cases would go down#

If they searched EVERYONE, it would go up. There’s no evidence that policing decreases drug use but it DEFINITELY creates more nonviolent felons.

Ok. But who protects us from the bad guys?
Don’t we need guys with guns, at least sometimes?

Although I can’t remember ever calling the police to affect my health or safety, I’m sure it’s possible

In those rare cases, (bank robberies, crimes in progress, etc) we call people trained to save lives

Can’t call them police. Police are trained to kill ppl & save THEIR LIFE

The only way we could possibly do this would be to hire and train these professionals, which save take a lot of money.

But most cities restrict how departments spend money. They’d have to rewrite the city budget, laws or create a new public safety model

Or (wait for it)…

Abolish and defund the police