“Defund” was taken out of context at the time too in order to write overreactionary stories. While I’m aware some people were full on wanting to abolish the police, they were a tiny minority.
“Defund” literally means “give less funding than before”, which itself I could get behind, considering many location’s budgets are not managed or audited effectively, and I’ve seen first hand in my hometown and other places I’ve lived where they get a huge budget, buy a bunch of shit they don’t need and there’s no tie between budget and performance like literally every other workplace.
Just because people want some fiscal responsibility from law enforcement doesn’t mean they don’t want law enforcement, but the word “defund” has scary connotations and the media leaned into that to protect the boys in blue.
My own brother became a LEO and quit after trying very hard for a couple years to be a force of change, but after seeing the abuse of the system by his fellow officers he eventually left when he realized he was powerless. It was pretty sad, actually. He otherwise loved the job.
The movement to defund the police was less to “get rid” of the police and more of a movement to reallocate much of the funds into multiple public service programs. Personally, I’m still cool with that concept. We prioritize the wrong things in the US for the most part.
Rather than buy more weapons and shit for officers who are clearly not always trained appropriately on how to use them, maybe we should direct those funds into programs for mental health, poverty and living assistance, healthcare payment assistance, drug rehabilitation and counseling, and similar public services to provide the public with a better standard of living. It works in other countries, so why not here too?