Soap box moment
Defund the police.
The entire movement to defund the police is based on bad terminology. Most people really want to restructure. However when conservatives hear the phrase “defund“ they assume that they want to take all the money away from the police departments.
This specific social issue would be a reform. There needs to be a change in not only how police departments operate, but how people perceive them.
This would need to be addressed on multiple levels. Police receives grants locally, and nationally. Funds will need to be set aside for mental health and grief counseling to provide community support. In order to do this, there does need to be a restructure and reevaluation of how monies are spent.
The goal of this movement would be to provide the police the tools they need to help the community, not just police the community. Many police officers respond to calls that are not legal issues. There is nothing they can do for them except for refer them to another agency. There needs to be an intermediary that helps that family get the help they need. As an example:Mental health. If there is a mental health card, and the person is lucid enough to not be forcibly transported by medics, there needs to be a program that can help these families get that help they need. The same thing with drug addiction, and really teenagers, even issues and financial strain due to unemployment.
Officers are there to enforce the law, not be counselors.