How to DEFUND THE POLICE without dEfuNdiNg tHe pOLice:

The NYC Houseless

The NYPD are in a constant shuffle of moving the houseless around, making sure they don’t sleep in subways or on the street.
It’s a constant shuffle of pushing them from one area to the next.

These houseless people have 1 of 3 major problems: Poverty, Mental Illness, and Drug/Alcohol addiction.

Some of them have all 3.

I can guarantee you that dealing with them is not the highlight of any officer’s day.

COVID has exacerbated the houseless problem in this city.

At the start of COVID they kicked them out of the subways. Forced many of them into Bellevue.

The shelters have capacity issues due to COVID as well.

So we are seeing all of them roaming the streets.

The houseless problem has thus fallen onto the shoulders of the NYPD.
They are in a constant shuffle with them. And the shuffle goes nowhere.

Shelters take some of them. But most shelters are not equipped to handle someone with a moderate to severe diagnosis. They get kicked out

So the homeless that deemed too problematic to be in shelters are now on the street.

And they become the problem of the NYPD. Which isn’t fair to them.

I’m a bit tired of us dumping the problems of our society onto the police.

Politicians see the rise in crime and clamor for MORE POLICE!

Are MORE POLICE going to house these people?
Are they going to treat them for mental illness, get them addiction treatment, help them recover financially?

No and we should stop pretending they are the answer.

Instead of getting more cops let’s house them.
And really house them. Most NYC shelters are temporary.
Most of the current shelters kick the occupants out every morning and give them a 9-10pm curfew. Which is a joke.

Most shelters are not equipped to handle mental illness either

I’m pretty sure if you told the NYPD they would no longer be doing the homeless shuffle they would be thrilled.
I have sympathy for individual cops. They have to deal with the problems of society we have completely ignored.

And let’s not stop there either.

We can audit the city budget and look at BIG TECH contracts designed to make us a SMART CITY.

I guarantee most of these contracts just increase surveillance, and invade our privacy. F*** them as well.

People like to make fun of the call for social workers in lieu of cops.

I was part of an incident where well intentioned NYPD officers tried to show mercy and play the role of social worker. It was a disaster.

It’s not their lane, forcing it upon them is unfair. That’s on us.