Yes, We Mean, Defund the Police, and Eliminate Civil Forfeiture Abuse, Too.

The mainstream media has the attention span of a ferret on methamphetamine and, so it’s no surprise that they can only push one narrative at any given time. This, most recent, manufactured drama, is all about whether or not defunding the police is a realistic solution.

It’s a trap, my activist-friends. They are trying to make you flop around the deck like a dying fish, defending to the end, what is ultimately poor messaging, in an attempt to muddy the waters along the river of reform — prolong the debate and their ratings-bump along with it. And, so far as I can tell, we, the collective we, are willingly jumping into the boat.

I agree with defunding the police. The police unions and their endorsement-seeking politicians have and continue to employ nefarious tactics and facilitate back-room-deals, to increase their funding and further increase the disproportionality of power.

And they use that power in all kinds of ways, not the least of which is killing people in the streets — 1029 people this year so far.

Another abuse of power, for example, police departments in this country seized millions of dollars worth of cash last year during traffic stops. They call it civil forfeiture. A law that was created in the 1980s, supposedly to claw-back the ill-gotten gains of Pablo Escobar types. In recent years, police departments have been using this tactic on individuals, not proven to have done anything illegal.

Let me put a fine point on that — thousands of people got pulled over, or stopped walking down the street, and frisked, many, no doubt, without cause, and the police officer effectively said: ‘I don’t know where you got that money in your pocket but I think it’s from illegal means and so I’m taking it.’ You are free to go and, you can if you like, come to court in a few months and prove to a judge how you made this money. And maybe he or she will order us to return it. Meanwhile, we are keeping it and will use it as we see fit. Have a nice day.

This is a budget short-fall remedy available to police departments. The police unions lobbied Congress and State officials to expand the use of this legislation and nobody stopped them. This is your country — your land of the free.

The Supreme Court ruled against excessive use of this law last year but defining ‘excessive’ is effectively in the hands of the police departments themselves.

Screw the institutions, and those who champion, and normalize these policies, agreed, but, the tagline: Defund The Police, doesn’t go far enough to communicate to the general public, what you mean, and how to go about it. More than a tag line, it’s a matter of telling a full story in less than five minutes and leaving people with a tangible path towards resolution.

Context

We all agree as a society that we need a public safety infrastructure. Otherwise, things might devolve into anarchy.

Conflict

Police departments in this country are out of control. They seek an ever-increasing balance of power over the public and are abusing that power, at will, all while standing behind a qualified immunity that wouldn’t apply to any other type of society-member.

Resolution

I find that people, on the whole, best absorb actionable steps towards a solution, when you can place them into two buckets.

• Oversight

Allocate an operating budget for mandatory, citizen-led police oversight councils. These should be one-year terms and handed by a citizen board, based on relevance and merit.

Mind you, this is different than city councilmen and women. I say that because, in my experience, they are among the most corrupt-able of all forms of representative government. They are most often just making a stop at the city council before attempting to move up into the Statehouse, or Congress, or Senate. And, in cities of any sizable population, you need the police unions to get elected to anything higher up the chain than dog-catcher.

• Alternatives

(What can Karen do besides call 911?)

Philadelphia, my hometown, has been making some progress in this area over the last few years, supported recently, institutionally by Larry Krasner, district attorney for the city, and citizen-super-hero to many of my compatriots engaged in criminal justice reform. See a good primer on this movement here.

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Follow along on Instagram if you please and let’s keep this debate going. It’s only when we stop talking about it, that those who seek to manipulate us for the benefit of their particular gang, can go about doing so, unnoticed and unabashed.