I'm fully sympathetic to the outrage motivating "fuck all cops" rhetoric. But I worry it undermines how police reform should be in mutual interest. Protecting bad cops breaks down trust between law enforcement & civilians, and makes policing a higher stress, more dangerous job.

1) Overpolicing and escalation are bad norms for everyone. Police suffer high PTSD rates from being on the front lines of violent situations. This often goes untreated (no VA equivalent for law enforcement) and worsens the feedback cycle in police interactions with civilians

2) Body cameras and accountability investigations require resources. Police depts are usually funded by local taxes and heavily supplemented by fines and fees. This creates another incentive for overpolicing, and there's a role for more equitable state and federal funding here

3) Related counterintuitive point: sometimes having more police officers increases accountability. I worked on police dept investigations at DOJ and small depts often had fewer resources to comply. One police chief split his time between 2 towns and couldn't oversee everyone.

4) Police unions obstruct justice in many ways. DOJ prosecution of police depts is not enforceable if it conflicts with a union agreement. Unions successfully lobbied for binding arbitration, so most police brutality cases end with no action taken.

But, like other labor unions, police unions have benefits. Many denounced Chauvin, a change from 2016 in which they usually defended the cop. It's possible to renegotiate union contracts to increase accountability (see Austin, TX) and support officers on issues like mental health

This is NOT to suggest that structural problems in law enforcement excuse police brutality. The status quo of police killing unarmed black civilians is intolerable. This is about policy ideas for changing that, distinct from the moral imperative to just not kill people

I have the privilege of thinking about this in an academic way, and I stand with those who do not. Feel free to call me out, I'll listen.

#BlackLivesMatter #JusticeForGeorgeFloyd #JusticeforBreonnaTaylor #MinnesotaFreedomFund

Addendum: this thread isn’t meant to oppose abolition. I don’t think we’re close enough to abolition to avoid discussing reform in the meantime, though.