When we talk about the idea of "defunding the police", we're not really talking about completely defunding the police.
What it really is, is about reducing the amount of interference police have in our lives.
As an example, I was pulled over a couple of weeks ago and given a warning by a law enforcement officer for a brake light being out. I should note that my vehicle has more than two brake lights. The officer also warned me that I needed to replace the license plate courtesy light.
This is always come across to me as a lame excuse to pull people over and establish probable cause to search a vehicle. The reason that this has always been a lame excuse to me is because we're required to drive around with our headlights on; because we have our headlights on, driving around with a courtesy light on our rear license plate seems to be a dumb thing. I can tell you that I feel it a waste of my time and a waste of the officer's time to be pulled over for a courtesy light that could have been dealt with with a 50 cent postcard.
At the other end of the spectrum, are fine law enforcement organizations that actually look to serve the public. These organizations are typically led b y elected law enforcement officers, called sheriffs. Instead of being concerned that their population is following the law to the letter, they worry about their population being assisted in a timely manner. These are the underfunded programs.
So what would happen if we defunded police departments and moved that funding to Sheriff's departments? Would we get back to that community service attitude? Would we get back the time and effort we put into our public servants?
I see our policing organizations rolled back to keeping the peace. I picture Sheriff Andy, residing in his office, reading the newspaper and maintaining the department paperwork. I see the Deputies taking care of their neighbors, helping them with a broken fence board or two that the neighbor's dog broke out.
I see the only need for K9s to be used in Search and Rescue. I see high speed chases abandoned in favor of just following the vehicle in a safe manner. I see speed traps and traffic stops being dealt with via post cards.
These ideas free up our public safety professionals for investigation and training. These ideas free up funding that would have paid for militarized equipment to go into better training and more relief.
Do departments need that money? Yes.
Should they be encouraged to use it differently? Definitely.
As it turns out, Crook County has already been working towards my view of policing. The Sheriff there has the public's best interests in mind. I commend Crook County voters for their choice in Sheriffs. It's been a while since I have been to Crook County, but I am looking forward to visiting during this campaign.
R. Leon Noble
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