#Defund the police

[reasonsforhope]

Double dose of articles about how crime is actually plummeting

From the UK:

"Seventy-eight per cent of people in England and Wales think that crime has gone up in the last few years, according to the latest survey. But the data on actual crime shows the exact opposite.

As of 2024, violence, burglary and car crime have been declining for 30 years and by close to 90%, according to the Crime Survey for England and Wales (CSEW) – our best indicator of true crime levels. Unlike police data, the CSEW is not subject to variations in reporting and recording.

The drop in violence includes domestic violence and other violence against women. Anti-social behaviour has similarly declined. While increased fraud and computer misuse now make up half of crime, this mainly reflects how far the rates of other crimes have fallen.

All high-income countries have experienced similar trends, and there is scientific consensus that the decline in crime is a real phenomenon.

The perception gap

So why is there such a gulf between public perception and the reality of crime trends? A regular YouGov poll asks respondents for their top three concerns from a broad set of issues. Concern about crime went from a low in 2016 (when people were more concerned with Brexit), quadrupled by 2019 and plummeted during the pandemic when people had other worries. But in the last year, the public’s concern about crime has risen again.

There are many possible explanations for this, of which the first is poor information. A study published in 1998 found that “people who watch a lot of television or who read a lot of newspapers will be exposed to a steady diet of crime stories” that does not reflect official statistics.

The old news media adage “if it bleeds, it leads” reflects how violent news stories, including crime increases and serious crimes, capture public attention. Knife crime grabs headlines in the UK, but our shock at individual incidents is testament to their rarity and our relative success in controlling violence – many gun crimes do not make the news in the US.

Most recent terrorist attacks in the UK have featured knives (plus a thwarted Liverpool bomber), but there is little discussion of how this indicates that measures to restrict guns and bomb-making resources are effective."

-via The Conversation, May 13, 2024

And the United States:

"[The United States experienced a spike in crime rates in 2020, during the pandemic.] But in 2023, crime in America looked very different.

"At some point in 2022 — at the end of 2022 or through 2023 — there was just a tipping point where violence started to fall and it just continued to fall," said Jeff Asher, a crime analyst and co-founder of AH Datalytics.

In cities big and small, from both coasts, violence has dropped.

"The national picture shows that murder is falling. We have data from over 200 cities showing a 12.2% decline ... in 2023 relative to 2022," Asher said, citing his own analysis of public data. He found instances of rape, robbery and aggravated assault were all down too.

Yet when you ask people about crime in the country, the perception is it's getting a lot worse.

A Gallup poll released in November found 77% of Americans believed there was more crime in the country than the year before. And 63% felt there was either a "very" or "extremely" serious crime problem — the highest in the poll's history going back to 2000.

So what's going on?

What the cities are seeing

What you see depends a lot on what you're looking at, according to Asher.

"There's never been a news story that said, 'There were no robberies yesterday, nobody really shoplifted at Walgreens,'" he said.

"Especially with murder, there's no doubt that it is falling at [a] really fast pace right now. And the only way that I find to discuss it with people is to talk about what the data says." ...

For cities like San Francisco, Baltimore and Minneapolis, there may be different factors at play [in crime declining]. And in some instances, it comes as the number of police officers declines too.

Baltimore police are chronically short of their recruitment goal, and as of last September had more than 750 vacant positions, according to a state audit report...

In Minneapolis, police staffing has plummeted. According to the Star Tribune, there are about 560 active officers — down from nearly 900 in 2019. Mannix said the 2020 police killing of George Floyd resulted in an unprecedented exodus from the department...

In Minneapolis, the city is putting more financial resources into nontraditional policing initiatives. The Department of Neighborhood Safety, which addresses violence through a public health lens, received $22 million in the 2024 budget."

-via NPR, February 12, 2024

#crime #violate crime #united kingdom #england #wales #united states #us politics #baltimore #san francisco #police #defund the police #good news #hope

[type-thing-middle]

#cuddles #gianna michaels #catherine bell #Jimi Hendrix #capricorn #roped girl #kendall schmidt #clone wars #defund the police #psat #danielle bregoli #taylor swift #franz kafka #ziam

[callese]

Story

#ftp #defund the police #defundthepolice #capitalist system #capitalism kills #defund the police fund our communities #no justice no peace #life under capitalism #this is amerikkka #us gun culture

[liberalsarecool]

'Tough on crime' should mean proactive policies, not reactionary punishments.

#defund the police

[intersectionalpraxis]

#social justice #free palestine #palestine #free gaza #current events #settler violence #settler colonialism #settler terrorism #nypd #defund the cops #defund the police #abolish the police #colombia university #united states #us imperialism #western imperialism

[odinsblog]

Please don’t ever forget how campus presidents, mayors and governors sicced the police on college students who were protesting for peace and against war & genocide. Because years from now, I guarantee you that the people who currently hate the protesters will absolutely try to retcon their roles and paint themselves as heroes who were in the right side of history. They were not. Don’t let them whitewash their history.

#politics #palestine #campus protests #student protests #columbia university #gaza #police #police state #defund the police #rafah

[somethoughtseeds]

#defund the police #cops #the police #policing #usa #america

[comrade-onion]

Some more advice to the students ❤️🇵🇸

#history #communism #marxism #politics #socialism #current events #student #gaza #gaza solidarity encampment #news #columbia university #protest #preparedness #students #youth #palestine #solidarity #antifascism #acab1312 #university #march #intifada #gaza genocide #palestinian genocide #socialist revolution #social justice #cops #defund the police #divestment #boycott israel

[danu2203]

THE POLICE ARE NOT YOUR FRIEND

#THE MILITARY #INDUSTRIAL #PRISON COMPLEX #DEFUND THE POLICE #BLM

[theivorybilledwoodpecker]

Boost the hell out of this. Liking is good. Reblogging is better.

I think a lot of people understand why this is bad, but in case some don't let me explain.

The nation was horrified by the recording of George Floyd being murdered. But what if it had never been recorded? Would Derek Chauvin still be out? Would they have tossed the case due to insufficient evidence?

Look, the 2020 protests resulted in laws being passed to hold police accountable. Were they fully successful? No. Does more need to be done? Yes. But there was more being done than I've ever seen.

Now, in the space of a few months we have

The SCOTUS ruling prisoners don't have the right to an appeal.

The SCOTUS ruling that cops can't be sued for failing to Mirandize people.

The SCOTUS rule the government can charge nonIndigenous people for commiting crimes on tribal land, stripping Native Americans of tribal sovereignty.

And in Arizona, people can't record cops within 8 feet of an arrest.

This is not an accident or a coincidence. Conservatives are sending a message that no matter what cops do, they will back cops up. They are saying that they don't like cops being held accountable. These rulings should be taken as retaliation for any policy passed that protects BIPOC and holds police accountable.

#Arizona #Signal boost #Boost the signal #Fuck the police #defund the police #black lives matter #bipoc lives matter

[callese]

#ftp #defund the police #defundthepolice #police brutality #capitalist system #capitalism kills #no justice no peace #defund the police fund our communities #nyc police #fuck the nypd #defund nypd

[liberalsarecool]

Defund and abolish is making more and more sense. End qualified immunity for police, too.

How many more are buried there?!!!

#ACAB #mississippi #defund the police

[left-reminders]

#black lives matter #defund the police #abolish the police #anti capitalism #socialism #universal healthcare #medicare for all

[intersectionalpraxis]

this cop also did this to another protestor:

i remember when Instagram mostly banned me from my account for an entire year after posting about police brutality and its' links to white supremacy and institutionalized violence -it was during the height of the BLM movement after George Floyd was murdered. i remember calling out ex-co-workers at the time and people on social media i was mutuals with at the time for saying 'but it's not all cops, some are good,' and my response to that, and will always be: policing systems do MORE harm than good in communities. cops get little to zero training and are allowed to bear arms and have a licences to maim, injure, and kill people (most of whom, are NOT threats). and it's beyond unacceptable. the amount of funding these fucking systems get too when it can be allocated to programs that ACTUALLY do good.

defund the police.

end the occupation and free palestine!

*also, a few people have noted this, but yes, I believe it appears that the cop spat on the memorial candles too. and the fact he will never be fired and told to give up his badge for doing such a heinous thing is just despicable* -and yes all cops are bad.

#feminist #feminism #israel is an apartheid state #palestine #freepalastine🇵🇸 #social justice #free gaza #free palestine #israel is committing genocide #intersectionality #defund the police #defund the cops #defund the military #police brutality #protest #protect palestine

[odinsblog]

Deputy Commissioner of Public Information, Tarik Sheppard, telling reporters it was a “joint decision” to not inform press that an officer “accidentally” fired his Glock handgun during the raid of Columbia University.

And he has the fucking nerve to be annoyed at REPORTERS asking about gunfire at a protest.

Imagine if a pro-Palestinian student protester “accidentally” fired a gun—the police and the media wouldn’t ever stop making up stories to justify even more police brutality, more suppression of civil liberties, and more justification for all of the war crimes that Israel is committing in Palestine.

Most minority lead protests are peaceful …. until the police show up. They bring the violence with them and then blame it on protesters.

(more)

#politics #palestine #student protests #columbia university #nypd #mynypd #police #campus protests #defund the police

[queerism1969]

#blm #discrimination #defund the police #bipoc #black lives matter #civil rights #black lives fucking matter #lgbtqia #black lives movement #black lives have always mattered #black lives are important #black history #lgbtq #black liberation #african american history #civil rights movement #black community #civil war #civil liberties #black history month #black pride #black culture #black archives #black excellence