1. The desire to denigrate the “defund the police” movement – an important goal of reactionary-liberal media-commentators who enjoy punching left – erases the massive value and deep insight that "defund the police" protests last summer brought to the fore. https://twitter.com/germanrlopez/status/1380580014547218432

2. Prior to last summer police reform mostly focused on improved training, systems to hold officers accountable, using new technologies (like body cams), etc. i.e. *things that were budget neutral or even increased police funding and didn’t shrink the scope of policing.

3. The insight of the “defund the police” movement is a recognition that police play too large a role in our understanding of and approach to public safety. And reforms must go beyond “reformist reforms” and instead that *shrink the scope* of policing and/or reduce budget,

4. Since last summer there has been an expansion of the political will to shrink the scope of policing and turn over that work to others. City after city have adopted non-police first responder programs that existed in only one or two cities previously.

5. And the same poll cynically and derisively cited above ALSO shows **65% support for reallocating law enforcement budgets to support non-police first responder programs**. https://twitter.com/theappeal/status/1380334396901793792?s=20

6. So while “defund the police” may be an unpopular slogan, defunding the police and stripping from police a significant portion of the scope of police activity IS popular.

7. In Denver already in the past few months, non-police first responders have responded to 748 calls. None required the assistance of police, and no one was arrested. Prior to this new program, this would have represented about 3% of police activity. https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2021/02/06/denver-sent-mental-health-help-not-police-hundreds-calls/4421364001/

8. And let’s not forget that current popularity is a paltry and amoral way of measuring the value of an activist movement. In the end activists are trying to create a better world, not cave to popular sentiment. https://twitter.com/davidminpdx/status/1380615750746959873

9.“Defund” isn’t the word I would have picked because some hear it as “reduce funding” while others hear it as “zero out the budget of.” I prefer “shrink the police,” because it conveys both lessening the scope as well as cutting $. But choice wasn’t mine. https://twitter.com/WonkDan/status/1380915729311076357?s=20

10. Well it depends, who is the “you” and “votes” for what exactly? Just this week the “defund the police”-allied candidate won the race for mayor of America’s most violent city, St. Louis. https://theappeal.org/tishaura-jones-wins-st-louis-mayoral-race/ https://twitter.com/nickajack88/status/1380912964916678657?s=20

11. It’s also worth pointing out that ~33% of police activity isn’t even related to criminal behavior and could EASILY be de-policed. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/19/upshot/unrest-police-time-violent-crime.html