Quote:
Originally Posted by Crown Royal
Where else does the money come from? Look at LAs city budget for example, the LAPD gets 38.8% of the total departmentary budget for the city, the next highest department is LAFD at a little more than 1/3 of that. Does the LAPD really need $10m in new equipment every year? When the entire city budget for new equipment is only $11.6m? I'm going to go with no.
Defund is a common term for budget cuts, I doubt it's a coincidence this is the only topic in which people "misinterpret" it.
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I'd argue that, if Covid has shown us nothing else governments can marshal huge sums of money if properly motivated. Municipal governments less so, but I see no reason cities should have to deal with what is essentially a national issue on their own.
And we agree that "defund" and "budget cuts" are basically synonymous. My question is more whether you see cutting police budgets as an essential - or even primary - aspect of what advocates want, or whether proper funding of social agencies is really the central aim.
Underlying my question is, I suppose, a question about whether the argument is primarily about spending on social programs to improve the way citizens are dealt with by police, or about punishing police, or both.
I should add, I'm only directing the question to you because of your very personal stake in these issues, which most posters won't feel as keenly. But the question really is one I'd be interested in a variety of views on.