Should funding for local police departments be redirected to social and community based programs?
“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.
@8NZGK76Conservative3yrs3Y
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
@8JDBBPB3yrs3Y
No. Maintain funding. Require stricter standards of hiring and intimidate community oversight. Also have the police force reflect community demographics.
@8CBVDPG4yrs4Y
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
@8D4979G4yrs4Y
yes, but to a certain point, like the funding should be decreased not all of it be redirected.
@8JYHPGF3yrs3Y
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.
@8NS88GD3yrs3Y
No, give police departments should be given more training but some increased funding should still be given to community based programs.
@98RPW681yr1Y
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.
@8PTVYLW3yrs3Y
No, police should instead be trained to respond in non-violent situations in order to mitigate police issues
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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!
@8KG75SD3yrs3Y
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.
@8H6JLM33yrs3Y
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.
@9CBTBW310mos10MO
Channel funds based on data collected regarding actual efficacy of reducing recidivism instead of current metrics.
@8CRJFFB4yrs4Y
More money should be spent on police rehabilitation and screening so police are better equipped and know what to do in certain situations
@8C8JYY84yrs4Y
No but police need specialized training in mental health and more training in non-leathal force
No, increase training and increase funding for social and community based programs
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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
@8GKYNSM3yrs3Y
redirect funding to police training about racially diverse communities
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
“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.
@8FY4NBW3yrs3Y
Police department funding should be left in the power of municipal governments.
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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.
@8JZQ98F3yrs3Y
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.
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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
@8PHKCQJ3yrs3Y
Funding for social and community based programs should be taken off the workload for police and given their own budget to provide services needed.
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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.
@8PCS6ML3yrs3Y
increase funding for unarmed, community officer intergration while mainatining funding for current police programs
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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).
@8PBTPZ63yrs3Y
the funding should be split between the social and community based programs and the local police departments
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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.
@8LQJ4VFNew Democratic3yrs3Y
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
@8Q2GXXR3yrs3Y
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.
@8QZS5YZ3yrs3Y
Remove some funding from police, put it back into communities. I wouldn’t say replace all police but definitely agree w having an unarmed person responding to non violent calls
@8QZQKLK3yrs3Y
Yes but they should also have more funding for educating the police force on racial inequality.
@8QKWLTB3yrs3Y
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.
@8QJR54W3yrs3Y
i’m a bit in between on this question because the police do a great job of keeping order and balance, however i do also believe that social workers and people like that deserve an increased pay.
Yes, redirect SOME funding toward better social programs for non-violent offences.
@8GCG6CP3yrs3Y
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.
@99JLRTS1yr1Y
Redirect to community programs, but don't abolish or defund police fully. No police in charge means anarchy.
@9KYB6X72wks2W
This should be a blended approach. Increase social programs but not at the cost of police, until the benefits have taken effect
Yes and disarm the police, they should know what innocent civilians feel like when they have guns pointed at them
@9KRJCR73wks3W
Do not completely defund the police, but ensure that there are other alternatives to respond to non-violent calls.
@9KPY7DK3wks3W
maybe, increase funding for community based programs such as drug abuse help or homeless people but also police and firemen also need funding so don’t fund all community programs so that still some funding goes to police just less
@9KMFJ993wks3W
use current funds to train police officers to better handle situations involving mental health issues and other nonviolent options to prevent crimes.
@9KFC52V4wks4W
no, but it is better to rehabilitate criminals and make them functioning members of society instead of throwing them in jail
@9K9Z4NB1mo1MO
While there is an importance in having the police, I feel that a chunk of the funding should go towards community programs that focus on bettering the community and the helping the people rather than over patrolling, etc.
@9K6M4541mo1MO
I Think a local militia service is more better than a police force, as long as it acts like authority itself but doesn't enforcei t on others so it isn't as braindead corrupt.
@9K6HR9K1mo1MO
there shall be no such thing as higher authority such we are as our own, criminals are their own thing unless if they do harm to us, So heavy no.
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