"Demilitarize the police" would work quite well. Many BLM-sympathetic voters are extremely uncomfortable with what their local PD has turned into. It's more like an occupying force than the local gendarmes they're supposed to be. So a slogan like that keeps those voters in the camp while you explain that, look, along with taking away the MRAPS and up-armored HUMVEEs and M-30 machine guns, we ALSO need to get police officers training on how to de-escalate, how to recognize and deal with the mentally ill, how to get out of the "everyone's out to kill me" mindset, and how to relate to the community.
I don’t have a better word myself, but a disadvantage of words like “demilitarize” is they start sounding wonky and less relatable to average people, like when politicians talk about “obstructionism.” (I don’t know what to replace that word with either, except maybe “vandalism)
What I hear in Defund The Police is "Re-Fund Social Services", and that's totally what we need, but the phrase itself is poisonous to much of the electorate. Social Services are one of the things we're supposed to drown in the bath tub. I want to say "Stop Dumping Work On The Police That Should Be Done By Other Agencies and Services, and To Do That, We Have to Add Money, Because Otherwise It Doesn't Work, Remember Reagan?" but oh boy, is that not catchy.
Very much THIS! Every time there's a mass shooting, Republicans blame it on mental illness. I wish just once some prominent Democrat would say "Okay. If you really think these events are all due to mental illness, here's my $2 billion legislation fully funding social and psychiatric services for all who need them."<br>
Really, though, I think we'll have to settle for getting cops more classroom time on how to deal with the mentally ill. If we can also get them less time on the shooting range, that would help!
I get what you’re saying, but what’s the better slogan that should be used instead?
"Demilitarize the police" would work quite well. Many BLM-sympathetic voters are extremely uncomfortable with what their local PD has turned into. It's more like an occupying force than the local gendarmes they're supposed to be. So a slogan like that keeps those voters in the camp while you explain that, look, along with taking away the MRAPS and up-armored HUMVEEs and M-30 machine guns, we ALSO need to get police officers training on how to de-escalate, how to recognize and deal with the mentally ill, how to get out of the "everyone's out to kill me" mindset, and how to relate to the community.
On a related note, I read an article suggesting the frat bro mindset of the police is a root problem: https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2020/08/americas-brotherhood-of-police-officers
I don’t have a better word myself, but a disadvantage of words like “demilitarize” is they start sounding wonky and less relatable to average people, like when politicians talk about “obstructionism.” (I don’t know what to replace that word with either, except maybe “vandalism)
What I hear in Defund The Police is "Re-Fund Social Services", and that's totally what we need, but the phrase itself is poisonous to much of the electorate. Social Services are one of the things we're supposed to drown in the bath tub. I want to say "Stop Dumping Work On The Police That Should Be Done By Other Agencies and Services, and To Do That, We Have to Add Money, Because Otherwise It Doesn't Work, Remember Reagan?" but oh boy, is that not catchy.
Very much THIS! Every time there's a mass shooting, Republicans blame it on mental illness. I wish just once some prominent Democrat would say "Okay. If you really think these events are all due to mental illness, here's my $2 billion legislation fully funding social and psychiatric services for all who need them."<br>
Really, though, I think we'll have to settle for getting cops more classroom time on how to deal with the mentally ill. If we can also get them less time on the shooting range, that would help!