For the 20,000th time we find ourselves in the same place. Another black person has been brutally murdered by the police. This time, it was George Floyd of Minneapolis. For eight minutes and 46 seconds, officer Derek Chauvin pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck as Floyd complained about not being able to breath and eventually suffocated to death. As a country, we continue to find ourselves in the same spot. Eric Garner was murdered by a police officer. Michael Brown was murdered by a police officer. Alton Sterling was murdered by a police officer. Tamir Rice was murdered by a police officer. Philando Castile was murdered by a police officer. The list goes on. No matter how many years go by, no matter the protests, no matter the empty platitudes spoken by politicians, we continue to find ourselves in the same mess.
Whenever something like this happens, there tends to be a lot of people who essentially agree the murder was awful, but argue that “there are still good police officers out there.” Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a good police officer.
The reason why there is no such thing as a good police officer isn’t because every person who applies to be a police officer does so with the intent to murder someone. I don’t think Derek Chauvin woke up on the morning of May 25th and decided he was going to kill someone. The issue lies with the system of policing itself. As we’ve seen countless times before, the American police system not only allows and encourages officers to use aggressive styles of force, it also protects police officers who have murdered people. In fact, police officers are very rarely prosecuted and convicted for misuse of force. Many times, police officers who misuse force and murder someone are fired by their department, but end up getting hired at a new one and continue to work as if nothing ever happened. There are even times where police officers who misuse reasonable force are fired by their department only to be hired back later, like Zach Rosen of the Columbus Police Department. Zach Rosen was initially fired for stomping on the head of a man who was restrained and wearing handcuffs, only to be hired back a year later.
There is no such thing as a good police officer because every police officer, from the friendly suburban cop who waves to your family whenever he drives past your street, to the 20 year veteran who let you off with a warning when you were speeding, all work for the system that encourages and allows police officers to routinely get away with hurting innocent people. They all work for the system that continues to become increasingly militarized at a frightening rate, and the system that is increasingly attracting emboldened white supremacists. The sad truth is that until we address the flawed system of policing, nothing will change. Police officers will continue to harm people, and we will all forget about George Floyd’s senseless murder in a few weeks because there will be another, more tragic murder at the hands of police to replace his memory.
So how do we fix this?
The answer is a lot simpler and less radical than you think: we need to abolish the police. The truth is, we don’t depend on police officers as much as we think we do. Ardent supporters of the police tend to think cops spend their days chasing bad guys and busting drug rings, but in reality, only about 10% of a police officer’s time is spent on criminal matters. Most of the time, police officers are dealing with small infractions (like people driving without valid license plates), responding to drug users in crisis, or responding to people experiencing homelessness. Most of what a police officer does can be replaced by an experienced social worker.
“Ardent supporters of the police tend to think cops spend their days chasing bad guys and busting drug rings, but in reality, only about 10% of a police officer’s time is spent on criminal matters”
We don’t need the police as much as we think we do. In 2014, the NYPD was facing a lot of pressure over the murder of Eric Garner, and didn’t feel supported by the mayor of NYC. The NYPD decided to stage a slowdown, where it performed only the most essential responsibilities (responding to major crimes like murder and assault) and ignored minor crimes like speeding and drug use. What ended up happening was fascinating: the number of non-major crimes decreased during the NYPD slowdown. The absence of police activity actually led to a drop in crime. This suggests that proactive policing measures and the broken windows policing model popularized in America actually leads to more crime. We do not need the police.
George Floyd’s death is the first time I can recall where entire institutions are now starting to rethink their use of the police. On Wednesday, the University of Minnesota announced they were ending their ties with the Minneapolis Police Department and would no longer contract them for large events. On Friday, the Minneapolis School Board Director announced plans to terminate the district’s contract with the Minneapolis Police Department and instead find alternative ways to “better serve students.” If large institutions are realizing there are better ways to meet their safety needs that don’t involve the police, then maybe it isn’t so farfetched to believe that society as a whole doesn’t need the police.
The current system of policing does not keep anyone safe. Police officers continue to murder people and get away with it. Police officers do not “protect and serve” their communities, but instead make them more unsafe. However, a better world is possible. If we properly funded social services, demilitarized law enforcement, and stopped locking people up over things that don’t matter like marijuana use, we wouldn’t need the police. Think about it. Why is America one of the only first-world countries that regularly experiences the level of systemic policing issues like police brutality?
If you are a police officer who is reading this and wondering how you can make a difference, I genuinely believe the best way for you to do that is to resign and stop working for such a corrupt, flawed system. The best way you can help your community is to get a job in social services and work to holistically meet the needs of the disenfranchised at a level that respects and acknowledges their humanity. At some point, we have to accept that the current system of policing is not working. It’s up to us to decide what to do next.
Friends, a better world is possible. It is time to abolish the police.