“The downside seems self evident”
– No, it’s not.
”-more low level crime
-more street murder
-higher police retirement
-lower interest in pursuing the career”
– No.
– Defunding the police is not about not paying police officers. It refers to reallocating the excessive funding that has been going to excessive and abusive police expenses, such as brand new fancy expensive “interceptors”, military-level armored vehicles and weapons, excessive surveillance technology, and so on, and spending that money more intelligently, revising the strategy of police departments away from excessive stops of people who aren’t committing crimes (but may tend to be non-white), brute force domination, and shifting funds to address mental health, addiction, homelessness, and other issues that lead to crime.