The Right Solution to a Misunderstood Problem by Aidan Stubbs

You hear the loud sirens stabbing in your ears, red and blue lights are flickering away, the cop car gains speed on your vehicle and insists you pull over. “What happened dad, what did you do.” Your dad wide-eyed instantly pulls over the vehicle, you sense the fear in the air and the silence of the vehicle coming to a stop. “What is it dad, why are we in trouble.”

“Listen to me,” he says, “You are to not talk or move, you do everything the officer says and you do not resist.” You've never been pulled over by a cop before confused about what’s happening you ask,

“Why.” Your dad looks you right in the eye you've never seen him so serious in your life, he answers,

“Because of the color of your skin.”

Police violence is a leading cause of death for young men in the United States especially those of African American descent. Over the life course, about 1 in every 1,000 black men can expect to be killed by police (Edwards). Many turn to defunding the police as an answer to stopping police brutality, it was even a massive point brought up from the BLM protests. However, defunding the police is not the right solution, in fact, it will only make matters worse. Instead, the focus should be on better funding and training police officers to be the best prepared for protecting America.

According to Procon.org, In Camden, New Jersey the local police department was disbanded due to corruption and rising crime rates. The county then took over and implemented de-escalation training. Soon these police officers were starting to connect with the community and violent crime dropped by 42% between 2012 and 2019. This is a prime example of how better training officers and putting more effort into better reforming America’s police system is doable and works. If this system was put in place there is no question the benefit it could have.

Instead of taking things away from police officers efforts should be focused on eliminating the violence that is seen in this department.
Taking things away from the police only makes it worse. In Hills-dale, a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri, new officers earn $13.50 an hour after a probationary period, less than hourly workers at Target. Low wages force many officers to take extra jobs, leaving them tired and unprepared to deal with high-stress police situations (3 Reasons Why Defunding the Police is a Bad Idea). Defunding the police will leave officers unfit for work due to the low pay, this will make things worse for America and crime rates might even increase.

This argument even has the support of the educated community. In a survey taken in an 8th-grade middle school class, 95% thought that putting more effort and funding into training police officers was a better solution of putting a stop to police brutality than defunding the police (Stubbs).

However, defunding the police remains to bring up a strong point. Police departments are often outfitted with surplus military equipment, increasing police firepower, and the attitude that police are at war with communities, which can escalate situations to violence. Defunding the police will ensure this surplus impossible. (Procon.org). While this is not wrong it’s forgotten that taking away police officer’s equipment does not change these officer’s mindsets or morals, what’s to stop a police officer from committing an act of racial violence with their bare hands.

Consequently, we need police officers. Without them America would be in ruin, what we don’t need is to fear these officers that are supposed to protect our nation. People, often minorities are being killed by police who are supposed to prevent crime in the first place. Change needs to happen and it needs to happen now, however, the solution isn’t taking things away from law enforcement but giving them the necessities to improve and create a system that’s truly equal. Imagine sitting in that same car although this time there is no panic. You and your dad are both African American and are about to be confronted by a police officer, however, this officer is kind, he greets your dad with a smile and asks him how his days going, and calmly hands him a warning asking him to slow down. This is the way police encounters should be and is only possible if the police system is reformed and given more national attention, not if this system is deprived of funding.

Works Cited

Edwards, Frank. "Risk of being killed by police use of force in the United States by age, race-ethnicity, and sex." PNAS.org, PNAS, 5 Aug. 2019, www.pnas.org/content/116/34/16793. Accessed 1 Apr. 2021.

Procon.org. "Defund the Police – Top 3 Pros and Cons." Briticana, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 30 June 2020, www.procon.org/headlines/defund-the-police-top-3-pros-and-cons. Accessed 1 Apr. 2021.

Stubbs, Aidan. Survey. Bedford Middle School. 16 March 2021

"3 REASONS WHY DEFUNDING THE POLICE IS A BAD IDEA." National Police Support Fund, National Police Support Fund, Inc., 21 Jan. 2021, nationalpolicesupportfund.com/3-reasons-why-defunding-the-police-is-a-bad-idea/. Accessed 1 Apr. 2021.

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