What does defund the police mean?

A man walks at a memorial for George Floyd in Minneapolis. Pic/AFP

A majority of the members of the Minneapolis City Council said on Sunday they support disbanding the city-s police department, an aggressive stance that comes just as the state has launched a civil rights investigation after George Floyd-s death.

Nine of the council-s 12 members appeared with activists at a rally in a city park on Sunday and vowed to end policing as the city currently knows it. Council member Jeremiah Ellison promised the council would "dismantle" the department.

"It is clear that our system of policing is not keeping our communities safe," Lisa Bender, the council president, said. "Our efforts at incremental reform have failed, period." Bender went on to say she and the eight other council members that joined the rally are committed to ending the city-s relationship with the police force and "to end policing as we know it and recreate systems that actually keep us safe." Floyd died on May 25 after a white officer pressed his knee into his neck, ignoring his "I can-t breathe" cries and holding it there even after Floyd stopped moving.

What does "defund the police" mean? It-s not necessarily about gutting police department budgets. Supporters say it isn-t about eliminating police departments or stripping agencies of all of their money. They say it is time for the country to address systemic problems in policing and spend more on what communities need, like housing and education.

State and local governments spent 115 billion on policing in 2017, according to data compiled by the Urban Institute. Activists acknowledge this is a gradual process.

The group MPD150, which says it is "working towards a police-free Minneapolis," argues that such action would be more about "strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police and toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention." "The people who respond to crises in our community should be the people who are best-equipped to deal with those crises," the group wrote on its website.

Catch up on all the latest Crime, National, International and Hatke news here. Also download the new mid-day Android and iOS apps to get latest updates.

Mid-Day is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel @middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever