The police are going to continue to exist as long as police unions have the power to veto ANY change to the system or how it’s funded. https://twitter.com/existentialcoms/status/1265721461366374400

In the end this is about power and police unions are the most powerful political force obstructing anything from changing in this space. Unless your plan accounts for that, it’s not going to work.

A whole lot of people on the left have made the choice that preserving police unions, and therefore the system of policing, is a necessary compromise in order to protect other unions from being dismantled. That’s a calculation that ought to be explicitly stated.

Now, some places are creating alternative non-police responses to mental health, conflict, etc. That should be scaled and supported. But the police department still exists and still takes up 20-40% of the city general budget because police unions have the power to make it happen.

Cities can barely even fire officers who murder people without them likely being reinstated because of the police union. And you think a city will be able to fire/layoff the whole department or even a substantial portion of it and the police union will just let that fly?