The “defund the police” movement is misguided. They are looking at the problem too narrowly. Those who support defunding the police believe that rather than solving simple community problems after the fact with individuals who are trained in how to solve crimes and use weapons, it’d be better to send the police funding to organizations that can help people before they engage in criminal behavior. Meanwhile, the police say they have been stretched too far in what they are asked to do with substance abuse, domestic issues, mental health, and other social problems. It seems like both sides agree with each other about the core issue. But they disagree about the solution being that policing as we know it should go away. And while it is true that better funding to social services would reduce the problems that police are required to solve, there would still need to be police to enforce the law. (I live in reality, not in Utopia.)
The solution to the problem is to redefine what a police department is. The role of police should be formally expanded by adding social services to the police departments. Shift police officers who are trained in domestic issues, drug abuse, mental health, and other social issues to a Social Services division of the police. 911 calls would be able to have the appropriate staff respond to the issue as needed.
In fact, as a lot of communities have already created “public safety” buildings, I think it is time to acknowledge the need for “public safety” organizations. Cities, towns, communities, counties, or regional operations could run a Public Safety Department that would take the place of police, fire, ambulance while also adding in social services. This would get the services to the population who needs it, reduce the roles that traditional police play, and get the funding to the social services where it is needed.
When a call comes in about a domestic issue, the social services people can head out on their own initially. Then they can call in ambulance, police, or fire as needed. Likewise, if the fire department responds to a call and finds an issue that requires social services, they can call in the social services officers.
Historically, there are separate unions for fire and for police. Those could continue in a merged Public Safety Department as separate unions with a possible third one for social services and a fourth for ambulances, etc.. Or a merged public safety union would have more bargaining power. The police union as an entity might not be in favor of this shift of resources if it reduces the number of members it has. But if the police unions included the social services staff too, their numbers would effectively increase over time. And of course, for the individual police, this new structure would be a major improvement — their roles would be well-defined and they would get to do more of what it is they say they want to do.
