Recently many events that affect all spheres of human life have occured. The most resonant and influential incidents were the world pandemic and the spread of protests throughout America due to the events in Minneapolis. The last ones affect not only people’s opinions but also more material things, such as the budget allocated for the police. Many government officials supported the idea of a possible defunding in law enforcement agencies. This paper analyzes an article written by Peter Beinart (2020) and highlights the problem of reducing police funding connected with the protests.
The article “Cities may have no choice but to defund the police” (Beinart, 2020) was chosen because it describes the current problem of connecting protests with a reduction in the police budget with more details than other news. The author raises arguments and facts that the state authorities will soon lack a budget in general, up to possible bankruptcy. Moreover, he traces the reasons for such a recession – a decrease in incoming taxes due to the collapse of tourism, massive lost jobs, and other factors arising from the COVID-19 pandemic. Some representatives of the country’s authorities also said that now is not the best time for the federal budget to help local authorities.
Some states, such as Los Angeles, initially intended to reduce the budget in other areas and keep the police financing the same. However, the Black Lives Matter movement has made a change, and now it is the police who are the leading contender to lose money. The New York’s mayor also announced his desire to reduce the police budget. Bill de Blasio promised to lower the city department’s funding – the largest in the country – and apply it to different social programs.
Thus, the main issue can be distinguished – local authorities in cities and states expect a decline in the budget due to a combination of different reasons. Subsequently, there is a need to reduce funding in various areas. Taking into account the demands of people who went to protests due to George Floyd’s death because of an officer’s actions, police departments became the primary candidates for financial deprivation. More detailed data on the funding and the amounts of money that will be applied to the police will be known after July 1 – the deadline for the budget planning.
This situation draws public attention to systemic problems in policing in America. Such changes will have the most significant impact on the work and structure of the police. Although, according to Beinart (2020), crime rates across the country have already decreased significantly and may be controlled by smaller police efforts, new changes may be unpredictable. For example, this may mean that the 911 emergency services will not be able to respond quickly to calls from citizens, and officers will work in greater danger due to a lack of backup. Moreover, for this reason, cases of committed crimes may not be solved.
However, redistribution of the budget to other social needs can be beneficial for the development and general state of society. It is a chance for the authorities to pay attention to problems that could not previously be solved. Thus, changing funding can play a significant role in various areas of human life. On the one hand, it can make cities more dangerous, allowing the arbitrariness of criminals. On the other hand, addressing such social problems, as low-income families and education with additional financial help, can make society better.
The analyzed “Cities may have no choice but to defund the police” is published in one of the oldest and most respected media in America. The magazine has a prestigious award and famous around the world. For these reasons, and also because the article offers real arguments and facts, the source can be considered reliable. The author of the article is Peter Beinart, professor of journalism, who teaches at the City University in New York. This fact suggests that he knows how to correctly and faithfully give information to readers.
In my opinion, only substantial grounds are needed to reduce funding for the police, investigating how much this can affect citizens’ safety. However, we must not forget that George Floyd and the protesters’ opinions are also incredibly important. In this regard, it is essential to focus, first of all, on discipline in law enforcement agencies. For example, an article in The New York Times covers those measures that have already been taken to improve control (Searcey et al., 2020). Among other things, they include a trick because of which Floyd died in the list of banned.
Summing up all the above, it can be argued that recent events can lead to a crisis because of which the budget of cities and states will be reduced. The discussed article proves that these decreases due to protests in the country will most likely be applied to the police stations. Moreover, there is a possibility that the police could already cope with their duties with a smaller budget. For these reasons, it is important to investigate both the discipline and waste of funding in law enforcement agencies.
References
Beinart P. (2020). Cities may have no choice but to defund the police. The Atlantic. Web.
Searcey D., Eligon J., & Stockman F. (2020). After protests, politicians reconsider police budgets and discipline. The New York Times. Web.