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Over the last few months there has been a push to defund and reduce the size of the police. Indeed many cities have taken such measures. I personally take the position of the majority of Americans in saying that defunding the police is one of the worst things that can be done. In actuality many believe that the police need more funding for various reasons. 

It is said this recent push for defunding the police is born out of racial justice, but this is a flat out lie. The truth is most minority communities and indeed most people want the same amount of police presence. The lies pushed in favor of defunding the police are part of the so called “Black Lives Matter” movement. So what does the African-American community want? According to a study done by Gallup 61 percent of African-Americans want the same amount of police presence and 20 percent actually want more police presence. The study also indicated that 32 percent of African-Americans see the police very often. Of this 32 percent 56 percent want the same amount of police presence and 10 percent want more. To the same point 61 percent of African-Americans are confident that all or most police encounters will end well. Only 27 percent are not very confident and only 12 percent do not think any encounter will be positive. Of the 27 percent 75 percent still think there needs to be the same or more police presence. These numbers make it very evident that even the African-Americans that “Black Lives Matter” supposedly represents do not agree with their ideology. Most people, even the supposedly oppressed minorities, do not want to defund the police. 

There are very good reasons that most people do not want the police to be defunded. Without police there is chaos. The police maintain order. Without police crime will and has skyrocketed. In the cities that have defunded police in the US, crime has increased. New York has seen a double in shootings over last year and a 50 percent increase in homicide. Minneapolis has seen a similar increase in murder, along with increased burglary and theft. It has also had a 55 percent increase in arson. This occurred during the time the Minneapolis council was working on getting rid of the police department. Abolishing or even defunding the police is a bad option. Police are needed for a civilized society. Without police it would be anarchy. 

So, how do we solve some of the problems in our police systems? It is very simple, increase the funding for police. Several of the problems we have seen over the years can be chopped up to lack of training. If police officers go through more extensive training they can be better prepared for more situations. This action means the police will need more funding. 

There is another reason that funding for police needs to be increased. It has been suggested that police departments need oversight. The only way that this can be accomplished would be to establish new and separate organizations for this. In doing so, more funding needs to be given to the police so that these new departments can form. Another part of this would be to give all police body cameras. They need money for this. Money is needed to accomplish proper oversight. More money is needed not less. 

Many have suggested police reform. This is not all that bad of an idea. There are things that can be reformed. These include getting rid of no knock warrants. This is an understandable suggestion and most are not opposed to this. These no knock warrants can cause problems, especially with plain clothes cops. This has been a big issue recently and reforming this aspect of law enforcement would not be a bad idea. 

Defunding the police is the wrong way to go. Most people do not want this, even those that the reformers claim to represent. It would be a horrible idea to defund or abolish the police. This being said some reform is needed. This includes certain operations and police oversight. To do this, however, more funding is needed for the police, not less. We need to increase the funding for police departments.