Rural Routes/Margot Ford McMillen

Defund Police Militarization

Defund the police. nnFrom the first time I heard it, I’ve wondered what that would look like. What if there were no police? Would we be safe?

My friend, S., had an immediate answer when I broached the subject at one of our socially distanced lunches. “We’d end up just like Brazil,” she said with authority, “the gangs would move right in and take over.” Hmmm, I thought, that sounds bad.

Looking more closely, I see that “defund” doesn’t mean “abolish.” In cities that are trying it, “defund” means “cut the budgets and give money to other programs that might have better outcomes.” And, I hope, it means “de-militarize. Back to, say 1970s levels.”

I reviewed all my lifetime of encounters with the police. Each terrifying. Most involving harassment by uniformed policemen. And I’m a white woman with nothing to hide.

My scariest experience came when marching with the October 2011 Occupy Wall Street crowd in St. Louis. I lagged behind and found myself flanked by a cordon of police. Some were in Humvees and others walked with body armor, shields, face masks, ballistic helmets, guns and other military gear. I immediately sped up my walk and got lost among the other marchers. This display was, it turns out, a dress-rehearsal for the 2014 police actions in Ferguson that created havoc after the death of Michael Brown.

The 2014 killing of Michael Brown and the ensuing riots were the last time St. Louis media examined the police tactics in that city. Until now. On June 28, Mayor Lyda Krewson made the news when she read the names and addresses aloud and in public of people who want to defund the police. A Facebook reading went viral. This intimidation of people who had put their names on a petition forced them to retaliate. In retaliation, a group marched on her home place, in a gated community. And they launched a petition that, within hours, gathered thousands of signatures demanding her resignation. As of this writing, she has refused.

Part of the “defund” movement is inspired by the obscene militarization of those supposed to “serve and protect.” A 2014 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch put the blame for the escalation on the US 1033 program that distributes military gear to ordinary police departments, equipping SWAT teams especially. They found at that time that the 1033 program had transferred more than $4.3 billion in surplus military equipment to law enforcement agencies, for use mainly in narcotics operations and counterterrorism.

Between Aug.2, 2010, and Feb. 13, 2012, police in St. Louis County had received 12 5.56mm rifles and six .45-caliber pistols, 15 “reflex” gun sights, four night-vision devices and three night sights, a $10,000 explosive ordnance robot, three helicopters, seven Humvees and three cargo trailers. One helicopter alone was originally worth $200,000. The next year, they scored at least two helicopters, computer equipment, two old SUVs and roughly 20 Kevlar helmets. Other Missouri communities have received other equipment.

St. Louis County police also own a BearCat, bought with federal grant money, and a BEAR, purchased more than a decade ago. The BearCat is a military vehicle — Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck. It is covered in 0.5 to 1.5 inch steel armor and boasts windows capable of withstanding multiple blasts from a gun, blast-resistant floors, gunports, roof hatches/turrets, lights/sirens/battering ram/winches/thermal cameras and spot lights. They each cost between $250,000 and $400,000. That’s a lot of money that could go to social services.

The “defund” movement has gathered steam in many communities where farsighted council members have voted either to put a plan in motion or to give it study. COVID-19 has pushed many services to the limit. Schools are absolutely lost on how to handle re-opening and at the same time keep kids safe. Districts are playing with the idea of splitting classrooms into five parts, and bringing each squad to school in person one day a week, to get help from a real live teacher. The other four days, kids would be home-schooled or zoom-schooled.

Besides re-budgeting, the defunding movement can mean re-thinking community safety. A study in New York took cops out of neighborhoods and away from aggressive policing for about a month. No stop-and-frisk. No escalation by harassment of petty crime.

And guess what happened? Crime fell!

The ideas are coming fast and furious: Send social workers to answer 911 calls that have to do with overdoses. Assign kids to jobs at recreation centers instead of giving them jail time. Pay them. Legalize and administer health programs for prostitution and opioid addiction. Put thoughtful peace lovers in positions of leadership instead of military-minded bullies. Raise police pay to attract more quality applicants. Train them to de-escalate violent situations instead of escalating and reaching for a taser or gun.

Check out the movement in your town. This idea has possibility!

Margot Ford McMillen farms near Fulton, Mo., and co-hosts “Farm and Fiddle” on sustainable ag issues on KOPN 89.5 FM in Columbia, Mo. She also is a co-founder of CAFOZone.com, a website for people who are affected by concentrated animal feeding operations. Her latest book is “The Golden Lane: How Missouri Women Gained the Vote and Changed History.” Email: margotmcmillen@gmail.com.

From The Progressive Populist, August 1, 2020

Populist.com