I can understand the desire for solutions. The first step, however, is always to understand the problem domain, otherwise any proposed solution is likely to deliver unexpected (and probably unwanted) consequences. Rushing in blindly is rarely a good strategy. As few people seem to be aware of the ways in which US police forces supplement their budgets, and given the presently fashionable calls for defunding, it seemed like a worthwhile action to point out the various pitfalls. Perhaps, if people become aware of the pitfalls, they may be more inclined to think carefully about possible mitigations.

Secondly, and sadly more bleakly, there are many problems for which solutions are in fact not possible. The problem of US police inadequacy may not be amenable to any realistic solution, and it seems fair to indicate that. It’s easy to be idealistic; it is however generally more useful to be realistic. If I had a possible solution, even one that may be only a partial fix and which could potentially take many years to accomplish, I’d have recommended it in the spirit of putting up a “straw man.” Alas, I really don’t see much hope for genuine meaningful reform.

There’s an outside chance some small liberally-oriented city may ultimately reach breaking-point and feel forced to disband its police force (as happened a few years back with a small town in the Central Valley of California where blatant corruption made it impossible for the authorities to continue to turn a blind eye). If this happens, and if the subsequent actions are coherent and effective, then such an event could act as encouragement for other cities to experiment likewise.

But frankly I don’t see that happening across the USA, so even if occasional small-scale local solutions (disbandment) are accomplished over the next decade or two, the vast majority of US citizens will remain stuck with an intractable problem. As for defunding, that seems to me doomed to fail for the reasons I outline in my article, and for many others it’s easy to conjure into mind but which I omitted for sake of brevity.

Naturally my “realist” approach is not to everyone’s taste, especially in a world that currently prefers well-meaning posturing over hard-nosed evaluation.