“Defund the police” is a slogan that supports divesting funds from police departments and reallocating them to non-policing forms of public safety and community support, such as social services, youth services, housing, education, healthcare and other community resources.
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@8NZGK76Conservative4yrs4Y
Funding needs to be based on the area. Funding also needs to be assigned to social and community programs to help reduce crime and in turn can lead reduced spending foe the police
@8JDBBPB4yrs4Y
No. Maintain funding. Require stricter standards of hiring and intimidate community oversight. Also have the police force reflect community demographics.
@8CBVDPG5yrs5Y
No, but have have police go through a most strict training and mental evaluation to determine their stability and ability to do their job without using bias
@8D4979G5yrs5Y
yes, but to a certain point, like the funding should be decreased not all of it be redirected.
@8JYHPGF4yrs4Y
No, police officers need this money to be trained on how to properly deal with mental health situations, and deal with crime in their area.
@8PTVYLW4yrs4Y
No, police should instead be trained to respond in non-violent situations in order to mitigate police issues
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
Agreed. The main counter-argument with this is that cops get paid highly and it wastes their time. If you consider those social workers are paid around 15k less per year than cops, and if this was implemented, cops would be paid 15k higher a year for their additional abilities to control violent mentally ill patients better and considering that social workers would have to call the cops anyways in that situation, you are actually saving money!
@8NS88GD4yrs4Y
No, give police departments should be given more training but some increased funding should still be given to community based programs.
@8PBTPZ64yrs4Y
the funding should be split between the social and community based programs and the local police departments
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
Agreed. Depending on how though. 50/50 is not going to happen. But 70/30 makes a lot of sense. I also think that we should scoop in funding from social welfare and put it into police and mental health. The left is all about fixing problems like crime before they happen, that's why they like funding mental health. So instead of funding social welfare, let's fund mental health and crime prevention, things that prevent poverty.
@8PHKCQJ4yrs4Y
Funding for social and community based programs should be taken off the workload for police and given their own budget to provide services needed.
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
The number of cops who want that is staggering. Imagine if you spent 50% of your day responding to mentally ill people and therefore having no time to fight or stop major violent crimes like armed robberies, stabbings and shootings. The problem is we are also asking for bodycams and more training, and that requires more funding, which we don't have.
@8PCS6ML4yrs4Y
increase funding for unarmed, community officer intergration while mainatining funding for current police programs
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
Agreed. But where do we get that funding from? Decrease the scandals from both the prime minister funding huge corporations for no reason. Decrease social welfare and put them into crime prevention so we can prevent poverty, creating no need for social welfare. Liberals have a certain line of thinking that sometimes conflicts with eachother. I honestly do think I have liberal values but agree with the conservative party's policies (not on the environment though).
@8LQJ4VFNew Democratic4yrs4Y
No Just direct the funds you ALREADY HAVE into a LONGER POLIECE COURSE
with EDUCATION and police officers, if for some reason they dont already, should have MANDITORY psychiatric evaluations. ESPICALLY after shooting their fire arm for WHAT EVER REASON. Keep your workers safe and your leaders clean please so we can all be safe please. Ty
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
I understand you are coming from an extremely empathetic place and this is what most misunderstandings stem from. Police officers are actually treated like criminals after firing their firearms, no matter how justified it is. Once they are relieved from the scene, their gun and badge are taken away and they are suspended under unpaid leave. No, it's not a vacation. During your leave, you will be interviewed multiple times and have to fill out many legal documents. Even for the most justified of shootings, there is still a very long and thorough investigation by IA and the SIU in Ontario, and you are suspended until your trial which can take years.
@8JZQ98F4yrs4Y
All members of law enforcement should all be required to wear body cameras at all times during their shift. Any discriminatory or violent behavior should result in immediate termination without severance. Increase funding for training to reduce police misconduct, racial and religious bias. Mental evaluations should be conducted by-yearly and supervisors should be held under greater scrutiny. It is a privilege to serve the community and should be honored as such.
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
I agree that most law enforcement members should wear bodycams (that requires more funding). But you also have to consider detectives and internal affairs officers don't necessarily need to have bodycams. SWAT officers also don't wear bodycams because it reveals their tactics. Violent behaviour does not exactly make sense. Most use of force above verbal warnings is 'violence'. You also have to consider that officers are in high adrenaline situations and might use more force than needed. If you fired everybody for that there would be no cops. I REALLY AGREE with your last… Read more
No, increase training and increase funding for social and community based programs
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
Increasing training = increasing funding for police. Most people will say decrease government debt, but when they are asked if they want to decrease funding on a certain area, they always say no, keep it. It's important that we have both, and both are severely underfunded. But we are going to have to make some sacrifices if we want government spending to be sustainable. So we either get more training and bodycams for cops while reducing the number of cops, their wages or the quality of their firearms, vehicles or uniforms, or we get more mental health units while defunding the police on… Read more
@8GKYNSM5yrs5Y
redirect funding to police training about racially diverse communities
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
“redirect funding to police”
Training cops to be not racist is assuming cops are racist. Anti-discrimination training is hated by cops and taxpayers because all you're doing is throwing money for a cop to sit in front of a slideshow telling him not to shoot innocent black folks. We could just weed the racist cops out in the hiring process, and redirect that discrimination funding to bodycams or mental health.
@8FY4NBW5yrs5Y
Police department funding should be left in the power of municipal governments.
@8Q2GXXR4yrs4Y
Not if you have a crazy city council in Toronto who got rid of 30 percent of the police force in March which created all-time highs in crime. But in general I do agree it should be left for municipal governments. Just had to smash some of our politicians today.
@98RPW682yrs2Y
I think funding should be distributed amongst the police department and social/community based programs. A collaborative approach should be developed to better respond to a variety of needs in the community.
@8QKWLTB4yrs4Y
I believe new agency could potentially be added, you might call it the Canadian Emergency Worker Education Bureau or something of those that would be in charge of allocating funds and setting a curriculum for all emergency workers such as police officers, firefighters, EMT workers so that the education might be of a higher quality and standardized nation wide. Their jurisdiction would be handling trainees. Once the individual has graduated they leave the CWEB and enter their preferred field. This would allow us to take some money from current services and make sure the funds are used for training and education specifically.
Yes, redirect SOME funding toward better social programs for non-violent offences.
@8GCG6CP5yrs5Y
This is a greater issue in the States. For forces such as the RCMP, officers receive more specialized training to deal with social and community issues as well.
@8KG75SD4yrs4Y
No, diversify the training which police constables get, and create more community based initiatives and teams to foster healthy relations between the people and police.
@8CRJFFB5yrs5Y
More money should be spent on police rehabilitation and screening so police are better equipped and know what to do in certain situations
@8C8JYY85yrs5Y
No but police need specialized training in mental health and more training in non-leathal force
@9F9SY9W2yrs2Y
Yes, but don't take only a portion of the funds instead of all or a big amount of it.
@9F4F8G82yrs2Y
No, but that funding should be lessened while being focused towards training, regulations, and removing corruption
@9F42NPP2yrs2Y
Depends on how effective and influential a social and community based programs are. It also depends on how much new technology and systems the local police need
@9F2MK7G2yrs2Y
Remove community policing powers from the RCMP, community policing should be provincial and local responsibilities
@9DWFG682yrs2Y
Yes. Fund real education programs, de stigmatize and legalize drugs responsibly and prioritize prosecuting real criminals for violent offenses
@9DKJPVNConservative2yrs2Y
No, but make sure that there are more types of professionals who can respond to critical situations without the need for fatal weaponry, but lean towards non-fatal defense tools like tasers & mace.
@9CBTBW32yrs2Y
Channel funds based on data collected regarding actual efficacy of reducing recidivism instead of current metrics.
@8H6JLM35yrs5Y
Yes, reduce the police budget and allocate police evenly across the city. Put funds into stopping sex trafficking, gun violence, etc. Stop over policing some areas over others.
@B4P8H2VNew Democratic10hrs10H
Funding for social and community based programs needs to be put in immediately and consistently. Once there are improvements to the social, safety and community only then should funding changes in police departments be looked at.
Funding needs to stay for the police departments also needs to be in place and remain the same for now.
@B4P769811hrs11H
I believe there is a need for a police service but some resources should be redirected to social and community programs to help address social issues which can be contributing factors to increased crime.
@B4NWTNK17hrs17H
we need the police, and if we can't figure out how we can balance the police funding and the funding of other programs, thinking that abolishing the police is a good idea is insane.
@B4NK72P1 day1D
I think the police need more funding, and that they shouldn’t be used as the fix all for every scenario. Some issues would be better resolved with therapists or negotiators or other specialists
@B4MYRBK3 days3D
Police and community-based responders should work together, with funding going to both police departments as well as community support
@B4M2M6W4 days4D
Significantly more training and testing for police, less for profit policing and more public service and protection. Stop pensionable OT, and take settlements out of pensions instead of local coffers and budgets
Increase or continue funding and add branches to existing police to include trained mental health workers and other
@B4L2WT55 days5D
Some funds reallocated to social and community based services, also increase funding to better screen potential police recruits (esp for mental health) and provide more MH training to recruits and ongoing training for officers.
@B4KXH4L5 days5D
Yes - redirect significant funds to community responders instead of police (majority); & regular vetting of structure, climate, and behavioural operations to determine if police remain in the job or let go.
@B4KXCSTNew Democratic5 days5D
Add more social workers, counsellors, mental health nurses to attend low risk calls - police should still attend every call. And have police do additional trauma informed mental health education
@B4KR9Y85 days5D
Increase funding for social community based policing within current police force. We need better officers and the right people dispatched for certain types of calls.
@B4KQSJJ5 days5D
Do not defund the police, as every community needs law enforcement. Unthinkable crimes can occur regardless of available resources. If someone is intent on committing a crime, they will do so, regardless of the support they receive early on. While it is important to invest in community safety programs to foster a secure environment, police remain essential for when things go wrong. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world.
@B4HXDJG1wk1W
Yes to some extent but ensuring police receiving enough funding to be able to properly and safely do their jobs
@B4HHJ361wk1W
No, but there should be more social workers and other trained responders available for metal health needs
@B4H5T5Z1wk1W
More police with better mental health training and higher wages for social workers to accompany the police.
@B4GF4CS1wk1W
No, funding should social and community based programs should be done in coordination with police services.
@B4FM9XB2wks2W
Both should be increased, and eventually decrease the police once the social programs are being more effective.
@B4FJQR62wks2W
Police should go through a more in-depth training and screening to ensure that they are fair, no biased and mentally stable. More funding should be put into the programs mentioned above
@B4DTFC42wks2W
Funding for police to be trained in combat without the use of a firearm when the use of fire arm is unnecessary if cops know how to defend themselves they would react so quickly to resort to weapons. And definitely 100% fund community based programs change the youth of the future.
@B4DQLMQ2wks2W
increase funding but also have a mixture of both depending on situation in regards to community based responders for non-violent calls.
@B4DHDYB2wks2W
There needs to be more funding put towards social and community based projects. Less funding for increasing police equipment and things that aren't really necessary, depending on the community.
@B4BPHTG2wks2W
Yes, replace police with unarmed community based responders in a healthy/safe community, and increase the funding and training for police in the unsafe, high crime rate communities.
@B4BJ3B82wks2W
Yes, but only slightly and money should be directed to social programs to help with mental health, drug use and outreach.
@B4BF3T32wks2W
Police and social and community programs should work collaboratively to ensure best social and public outcomes possible. Police should not be refunded but the result of collaboration should be more focused on better and healthier community and personal outcomes for the individuals involved
@B4B337T2wks2W
We need police but we also need to increase spending in community programs to reduce crime rates in the future
Police should instead be reviewed for abuse of power consistently and trained in non-violent de-escalation. Police should go under the same biased testing as juries do before being able "serve justice"
@B488P7T3wks3W
regular police training and specialized trained police leaders trained in community and social programs.
@B486XBX3wks3W
Urban and rural need two different approaches. Urban policing should defund some programs to fund some social programs. Rurally we need more police.
Having the police to do more outreach in higher crime rate communities, and work with community grassroots through education and pathways to avoid engaging in crimes or how to communicate to
@B47QV8V3wks3W
There should be investments into social and community based programs without removing funding from police
@B47JZP33wks3W
No, just increase funding for social based community programs while maintaining funding levels for local police.
@B46TQHL3wks3W
Funding should be determined on a community needs basis. Some communities need higher police presence due to crime rates, while others would benefit from an increase in social and community programs. More police funding should be put into adequate training for situations involving mental health and disenfranchised individuals to prevent excessive use of force or misattributing symptoms to drug use.
@B46PXPW3wks3W
Redirect more department funds towards training programs, diversity / poverty / mental health training, and increase social & community based programs.
@B46DY7T3wks3W
Depends how funding is being allocated, I believe that police departments should get funding but we don't need to allocate this into militarizing them.
@B46CB8L3wks3W
Funding should be given to both, not redirected. Our police budgets have continually decreased and they are unable to do their jobs as well. BUT, social and community based programs should also have increased funding.
@B463CZJ3wks3W
No, increase funding and training for police and implement social and community based programs designed to help the police and the public
@B45YJHPNew Democratic3wks3W
Yes, we should have other levels of response for non-violent or mental health situations. But we could also attempt better screening & training to police officers for these situations
@B45VSS9New Democratic3wks3W
Some funding should be redirected to mental health agencies, to deal with offenders that are mentally ill.
@B45VMNFConservative3wks3W
Our police is relatively useless and do not prioritize protecting the community. Police reform is necessary
@B45SQLY3wks3W
I think we need a balance because police are so important to have . We also need money for social community based programs as long as they aren’t pushing the 🏳️🌈 on people . I would tax the rich and use the money from the rich to fund those programs
While social based programs should be prioritized, local police departments funding shouldn't be completely redirected.
@B454V2D3wks3W
This is an extremely complicated topic...but for now, the solution is not removing police funding. Funding for community-based response trials should be granted, but an entire overhaul of our response system, transportation regulations, and interagency cooperation would need to occur to have any real effect.
@B44NPYZ4wks4W
Social services should be increased, but not necessarily at the expense of police. Social workers should be responding with police to many calls.
@B43SXTX 4wks4W
Shift non-criminal crisis response (e.g., mental health calls) to specialized teams while keeping police focused on serious crime.
Increase funding for both policing and community programs instead of taking from one to fund the other.
Invest in de-escalation and mental health training for officers to improve public interactions.
Audit police budgets to cut inefficiencies without reducing necessary law enforcement services.
@B43QV9M4wks4W
No, the police should no longer be involved with non-criminal events, public safety officers with specialized public training to deescalate and mental issues on top of self defense courses - these should be doing the majority of civil work like traffic tickets, bylaw enforcement, patrolling the streets. The way it used to work was better.
@B3ZDSYR4wks4W
Police should be funded, however we also need psychologically trained professionals to respond appropriately to non violent calls.
Yes redirect some of the police department spending to mental health teams that work directing with the police.
@B3VMKMG1mo1MO
Depends on the community and crime rate. More community funding for lower crime rate communities and more police funding for higher crime rate communities.
@B3RYFGFNew Democratic1mo1MO
Both social parties and police need to work together in partnership to best influence as both have separate skill sets with small amounts of overlap.
@B3NW9VMNew Democratic1mo1MO
higher skilled and better trained police officers with a majour culture change in poliicing is important to a sustabiale and stable commuities
@B3NC4B2 1mo1MO
No, redirect current investments into a better screening and application process for students, mandatory therapy and mental health sessions VERY FREQUENT, and more focus on ethical and behavioural training.
@B3HN74R 1mo1MO
This is very vague and it's not clear what it's asking. I do not believe in completely abolishing the police, but I also believe they need much less funding. This still need some funding, they can't exist without it.
@B3HJK9R2mos2MO
Yes, but for non-violent calls. Funding should also be allocated to provide police with more in-depth training on crisis intervention and trauma-informed de-escalation tactics.
@B3H825K2mos2MO
I believe we could redirect some of that funding while also implementing stricter guidelines for becoming a police officer. I do not believe we should significantly defund the police as that creates a dangerous environment.
@B3GFMP72mos2MO
No- just increase the funding to social and community based programs without affecting the police funding
Focus more on solving the root cause and prioritize nurturing the youth to prevent crime from even happening.
@B3FVXLV2mos2MO
If the police can prevent regular stabbings and shootings, then I think they deserve the funding. However, the news suggests otherwise.
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