Until recently, it was hard to think of a post-George Floyd innovation that failed more quickly, or more spectacularly, than the “defund the police” movement.
As homicide rates ballooned by more than 30%, cities like Los Angeles, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, New York, Austin, and Oakland reinstated funds for police departments. They had all made a big show of cutting police funding, only to realize that in fact, police actually serve a purpose. And then there were the stories of various politicians, including congressmen, who called for defunding the police — only to demand police protection when they needed it. So, the whole idea of defunding the police was a BLM-inspired debacle that seemed hard to top.
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