Whoever came up with the term defund the police is a moron. You got smart people out here now thinking we want to completely abolish law enforcement. The reality of the defund the police movement from people who actually are doing the work is to limit the amount of military gear that can be purchased and used against citizens. There are also calls from politicians to reallocate funds towards de-escalation training and community policing initiatives instead of equipment used in the violent side of policing. Only anarchists are calling for the abolishment and disbanding of entire police departments. America is a police state culture. Police are a part of American iconography. Police shows have been on every TV station and radio stations since the inception of technology. Even today on every single major broadcast network and cable channel there are at least 2 police shows per channel in syndication. We are a police force culture. There is no one serious calling for the defunding of police departments.

It’s irritating to hear that because someone saw a few anarchists at a protest saying they want to abolish police that they now are the arbiter of truth of an entire movement with documented legal underpinnings whose only goal is to limit police militarization. It’s like me going out to see someone with a sign that says Arrest Trump and after listening to them I develop the opinion that everyone who disagrees with Trump wants him arrested. These people saying the Defund Police movement is about full-on abolishment is ridiculous and it’s being spread online to discredit the real movement by both news outlets and private citizens alike. There are very few people, like literally very few around the country who are saying we should defund the police entirely. What hundreds of thousands of people are saying is that we need to stop letting police departments buy armored troop carriers, military-grade riot gear, advanced electronic surveillance equipment, rubber bullets and tear gas.

Don’t get sucked into this like it’s some big movement where all the people on the left want to abolish police departments. It’s just not true. It’s the same thing as the abolish ICE movement. Very few people with some signs and a website trying to legitimize anarchy. Don’t let this insignificant few take away from the real goal of the movement; limiting the power local police use to infringe on your civil rights.