Back the Blue

Adam does a quick hit solo episode about his exciting day on twitter.

Here's the thing I read, with links:
Police brutality is the most pernicious and visible problem with police work. But it’s not the only one.

Modern police forces are expensive and drain resources that could be put to better use. Look at Los Angeles. LA spent 54% of the city’s general fund on cops while it cut the far smaller amount of money allocated for housing and economic development programs. (https://peoplesbudgetla.com/)

You’ll see similar patterns in other major cities. New York City spends more on policing than it does on the Departments of Health, Homeless Services, Housing Preservation and Development, and Youth and Community Development combined. (https://www.nydailynews.com/…/ny-oped-cut-the-nypd-budget-n…) Boston spends $60 million on police overtime alone.A 20 percent cut to the police force’s overtime budget would mean $12 million could be reallocated to other city services. (https://www.bostonherald.com/…/boston-councilors-mull-reje…/) In Minneapolis, where Derek Chauvin murdered George Floyd, police get a $1.6 billion budget while services get pocket change--$31 million for affordable housing, more than $400,000 for the Office of Crime Prevention and about $250,000 for downtown community organizations working with at-risk youth. (https://kstp.com/…/minneapolis-city-council-passes…/5576492/)

And despite all the money we spend on police, they’re remarkably ineffective. They’re probably an effective deterrent, keeping people from committing crimes for fear of being caught by police. That’s unquantifiable. We’ll never know. We can say, though, that they’re awful at solving crimes. Just dog shit. In 2015, 46% of the violent crimes and 19% of the property crimes reported to police in the U.S. were cleared, according to FBI data (https://www.pewresearch.org/…/most-violent-and-property-cr…/). Despite a revolution in technology for forensic investigations, cops solve less homicides today than ever (https://www.themarshallproject.org/…/why-are-american-cops-…).

And the crimes most needing their attention are ignored. It takes years for police to catch up with serial killers, particularly ones who prey on vulnerable populations (https://www.vice.com/…/how-cops-botch-serial-killer-investi…). Rape kits are piled up in police departments without being tested (http://www.endthebacklog.org/…/where-backlog-exists-and-wha…). Cops rarely investigate or prosecute stalking claims (https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/228354.pdf).

And if we magically ended police brutality tomorrow, abuses would remain. Cops would still lie in courts to get convictions (https://www.nytimes.com/…/why-police-officers-lie-under-oat…), a practice so commonplace cops nicknamed it “testilying.” (https://www.nytimes.com/…/testilying-police-perjury-new-yor…) They could still routinely plant evidence during investigations. (https://www.themarshallproject.org/…/4692-cops-planting-evi…) They could target minorities in crackdowns on petty crimes. (https://www.nytimes.com/…/nyc-police-subway-racial-profilin…).

So, in conclusion, I believe the problems with police extend beyond police brutality and that I’ve spent way too much time on this Facebook post nobody’s gonna read. Thanks!