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Why "Reform the Police"?
The ever-popular phrase, “defund the police”, is not meant to completely abolish law enforcement agencies within communities. By “reform the police”, we mean to reallocate a portion of the police budgets on both a local and state level to social programs, and focus on investing that money into low-income communities. State funding that goes towards police has increased over the years, whereas education and healthcare institutions’ funding has only decreased.
The social problem of reallocating funding to educational institutions is that low-income communities that are highly populated with non-white groups are affected much more than mostly white communities. Without proper resources to educate students of colour in these communities, it becomes significantly harder to continue onto secondary education after high school, leaving only minimum-wage jobs. This transitions into a continuous cycle, where many BIPOC from these communities are forced to take on all the low-paying jobs that no one else wants, remain in communities that offer low-quality education and health care resources, and much more that is passed down from generation to generation. Not only does this significantly impact mental health but also physical health, as low-income communities are negatively affected by pollutants from nearby warehouses and factories, as well as climate change, more than those in middle- and higher-income communities. Crime is a common response to not meeting financial needs, which places law enforcement directly within these communities. By redirecting state funding into these institutions, like schools, libraries, hospitals, and towards social workers, crimes decrease while community members are better prepared in a safe and secure society.
What reform looks like:
State funds are diverted from law enforcement and redistributed to communities that are greatly impacted by poverty and lack of infrastructure, most of which are communities of colour. By redirecting money into public institutions within these communities, individuals and groups will have the resources to feel safer and continue to build a comfortable setting for families.
Increasing funding towards mental health/behavioural health workers, like social workers that can work in the field as first-responders, helps to make people in-crisis or those who are not a threat to society to feel more comfortable with the person they are in contact with. Implementing social worker-based response teams, or a mobile crisis team, into public safety programs alleviate stress and anxiety when officials interact with homeless individuals, individuals experiencing mental health crises, people who may be under the influence while driving, etc.
Aren't police agencies already doing that by providing Crisis Intervention Training (CIT)?
No, not really. Officers with crisis intervention training is a police-based response, composing only of officers with 40 hours of specialized behavioural health training. Another police-based response to solve mental health crises in communities is called a case management team, where officials use law enforcement resources and compare it with health data in an attempt to reduce calls to specific individuals who make repeated calls.
This means that law enforcement agencies are still sending officials armed with deadly weapons to service calls that don't require them.
So what do response teams composed solely of behavioural health professionals look like?
From hotlines to in-person response teams, there's a few different ways to establish behavioural health professionals in the workforce alongside other first responders.
- Crisis and "warm" lines: mental health hotlines supervised by trained and licensed counselors that provide help to community members over the phone; an alternative to calling 911.
- Peer navigator programs: Programs that give peers that have gone through similar mental illness and substance abuse to help other community members going through these sort of experiences. The main goals of these programs are to reduce criminal involvement and avoid calls to law enforcement, offering peer-to-peer support.
- Mobile crisis teams: Composed of medics, behavioural health workers, and/or peers; They provide immediate support to crisis calls, serving as first responders, to stabilize individuals and refer whatever resources may be needed at the time.
- EMS-based response: Composed of licensed counselors, social workers, physicians and EMTs; Goal is to reduce arrest rates; alternative to police response.
To learn more, refer to the resources below:
Behavioral Health Crisis Alternatives: www.vera.org/behavioral-health-crisis-alternatives
Denver STAR Program: www.tedxmilehigh.com/denver-star-program/
Mental Health America - Responding to Behavioral Health Crises: www.mhanational.org/issues/position-statement-59-responding-behavioral-health-crises
Listen to our podcast "Talks with Together We Care" episodes that go into detail about defunding the police by clicking the links below:
- Benefits of Police Reform Talk, anchor.fm/together-we-care-fountain-hills/episodes/Benefits-of-Police-Reform-Talk-e1a4kdb/a-a57pj8
- Defunding the Police Talk, anchor.fm/together-we-care-fountain-hills/episodes/Defunding-the-Police-e15tvvf/a-a57pj8
Why Not "All Lives Matter"?
The phrase "Black Lives Matter" was never meant as "ONLY Black Lives Matter." Rather, until Black lives matter, there’s really no truth to the statement “all lives matter.” It can also be explained by this cartoon (credit Chainsawsuit by Kris Straub):
Aliza Garza, one of the creators of the #BlackLivesMatter hashtag, stated in her article "A Herstory of the #BlackLivesMatter Movement by Alicia Garza" in The Feminist Wire, "Black Lives Matter doesn’t mean your life isn’t important—it means that Black lives, which are seen as without value within White supremacy, are important to your liberation. Given the disproportionate impact state violence has on Black lives, we understand that when Black people in this country get free, the benefits will be wide-reaching and transformative for society as a whole. When we are able to end the hyper-criminalization and sexualization of Black people and end the poverty, control and surveillance of Black people, every single person in this world has a better shot at getting and staying free.
When Black people get free, everybody gets free."
Listen to our podcast "Talks with Together We Care" episode that goes into detail about why the Blue Lives Matter Movement is harmful by clicking the link below:
When Black people get free, everybody gets free."
Listen to our podcast "Talks with Together We Care" episode that goes into detail about why the Blue Lives Matter Movement is harmful by clicking the link below:
- Blue Lives Matter Talk, anchor.fm/together-we-care-fountain-hills/episodes/Blue-Lives-Matter-Talk-e177nim/a-a57pj8