Catnoodle
New member
I have several friends contacted me with a similar question, “What would happen if a city disbanded its police force?” So I posted my thoughts. The myopic movement of defunding or dismantling the police has serious unintended consequences. Can there be improvements to policing strategies and funding reallocation to accompany those strategies, sure? However, to use a wholesale approach to dismantle and cripple good officers or entire police departments under the notion of appeasing domestic terrorists is a bad idea.
By dismantling one of the core functions of government, you are likely to see:
Increased crime: Crime will not magically disappear once the police are disbanded. Murder rates are already high in big cities like Chicago and New York. With little law enforcement presents or with lax prosecution, lawless individuals will take advantage of such, causing crime rate to rise.
Policing disparity or uneven policing paradigms: With the dismantling or serious defunding of the police, you will see the more wealthy neighborhoods turn to paid security or more extensive well-funded neighborhood patrols, in essence, setting up their own police force. This will leave less wealthy neighborhoods with inadequate or ineffective security to fight the growing increases in crime that are sure to happen. Such policing inconsistencies will exacerbate the very disparity leftist claim to want to reduce.
Economic Flight: People like to live, work, and shop where they feel safe. With such an uneven policing paradigm as noted above, citizens and businesses will move to areas that have lower crime rates and better security. With such economic migration, it again will exacerbate the very economic disparity leftist claim to hate.
Greater Organized Crime: With the lax security presence citizen will seek safety in whomever can provide it. This will give rise the more unscrupulous persons rising to the top. Cronyism and organized crime will present itself in the form of protection rackets, pay-for-play security schemes, and extortion. A clear example of this can be seen in the police free zone in Seattle. Self-proclaimed rapper Raz Simone is reported to be demanding $500 payments from business located in the police free zone, to be “Safe.”
Gangs & Warlords: You will also see the rise in gangs, turf wars, and warlords. Given the lawlessness and power vacuum, the more unscrupulous persons and their followers will rise to the top. This rise will create power struggles as all try to control or implement their versions of social contracts and social order.
This is but a few of the unintended consequences.
By dismantling one of the core functions of government, you are likely to see:
Increased crime: Crime will not magically disappear once the police are disbanded. Murder rates are already high in big cities like Chicago and New York. With little law enforcement presents or with lax prosecution, lawless individuals will take advantage of such, causing crime rate to rise.
Policing disparity or uneven policing paradigms: With the dismantling or serious defunding of the police, you will see the more wealthy neighborhoods turn to paid security or more extensive well-funded neighborhood patrols, in essence, setting up their own police force. This will leave less wealthy neighborhoods with inadequate or ineffective security to fight the growing increases in crime that are sure to happen. Such policing inconsistencies will exacerbate the very disparity leftist claim to want to reduce.
Economic Flight: People like to live, work, and shop where they feel safe. With such an uneven policing paradigm as noted above, citizens and businesses will move to areas that have lower crime rates and better security. With such economic migration, it again will exacerbate the very economic disparity leftist claim to hate.
Greater Organized Crime: With the lax security presence citizen will seek safety in whomever can provide it. This will give rise the more unscrupulous persons rising to the top. Cronyism and organized crime will present itself in the form of protection rackets, pay-for-play security schemes, and extortion. A clear example of this can be seen in the police free zone in Seattle. Self-proclaimed rapper Raz Simone is reported to be demanding $500 payments from business located in the police free zone, to be “Safe.”
Gangs & Warlords: You will also see the rise in gangs, turf wars, and warlords. Given the lawlessness and power vacuum, the more unscrupulous persons and their followers will rise to the top. This rise will create power struggles as all try to control or implement their versions of social contracts and social order.
This is but a few of the unintended consequences.
