What ‘defund the police’ really means

You’ve likely seen it on the news, painted on protestors’ signs, chanted at marches or circulated on social media in the form of a hashtag: Defund the police.

Don’t confuse “defund the police” with the occasional cries of “abolish the police.” These are not the same thing. “Abolish the police” is a more extreme movement to eventually eliminate the need for armed police officers altogether. “Defund the police” is a proposal to reallocate funds from increasingly militarized police forces to social services in communities — particularly the ones whose budgets are always cut.

Locally, funding for the Morgantown Police Department makes up around 5% of the city’s budget (both for FY2020 and the pre-COVID budget for FY2021).

But “defund the police” is about more than just money. To borrow a now oft-repeated phrase, police across the country have become “social workers with guns.” We expect them to respond to mental health crises, to domestic disputes (we’re referring strictly to non-violent arguments), to unhoused individuals “loitering” and to suspected drug use.

We ask police to be therapists, marriage counselors, crisis interventionists and drug counselors. But this is not what we train them for. A sample course catalogue for West Virginia State Troopers showed only one class on ethics — but it was designed only for supervisors and wasn’t even offered in 2019.

The movement to defund police asks us, as a society, to stop sending armed officers to incidents where a social worker would be more helpful, and it asks this with the understanding that social services don’t come for free — hence reallocating funds from police departments to social services.

“Defund the police” doesn’t ask that cops stop responding to burglaries or rapes or murders or other violent crime. It asks that a counselor be sent when a couple’s argument gets loud. It asks that resources be shifted to affordable housing initiatives and nonprofits that help get the unhoused off the street. It asks that a therapist respond to a non-violent mental health crisis. It asks that funding be diverted from police weaponry to community initiatives, such as after school and summer programs, support groups and education.

We’re already ahead of the national curve. Monongalia County’s Quick Response Team is the epitome of what activists want to see come from “defunding the police.” It brings together first responders and community members (peer recovery coaches, spiritual leaders) to do more than address the crime of drug use: It addresses the person who is suffering and the problems that led them to an overdose.

Not every societal ill can be cured by policing it. And yet, for decades, we have asked officers to treat both the symptom (crime) and the illness (poverty, mental health, addiction, etc.), and that’s not fair to our law enforcement. Defunding the police asks that our police departments share some of their financial resources with individuals and organizations who are trained to treat underlying causes of crime. We’re not trying to get rid of our officers. We’re only asking them let others shoulder some of their burden.