The Minneapolis City Council has voted to dismantle its police department and replace it with a system “that actually keeps us safe,” according to council President Lisa Bender. But when asked what that new system would look like, or how it would keep Minneapolis’s residents safe, Bender couldn’t give an answer.
During an interview with CNN, anchor Alisyn Camerota asked Bender the question at the forefront of everyone’s minds: Who will enforce the laws if there is no police department, and whom should residents call if they become victims of crime?
“Yes, I mean, I hear that loud and clear from a lot of my neighbors,” Bender replied. “And I know that that comes from a place of privilege. Because for those of us for whom the system is working, I think, need to step back and imagine what it would feel like to already live in that reality where calling the police may mean more harm is done.”
Emergency assistance and crime prevention isn’t a privilege; it is a basic burden that the government has agreed to carry on behalf of its citizens. We agree to follow the laws, and in turn, the government agrees to protect the life, liberty, and property of its citizenry. Deprive citizens of that protection, and you will ultimately deprive them of one or more of their basic rights.
This deprivation will disproportionately hurt minorities who live in low-income, high-crime neighborhoods — the very same people Bender is trying to protect. Study after study has shown that proactive policing saves minority lives. In 2016, Harvard economist Roland Fryer found that in cities where police-civilian contact decreased, homicides increased, especially in poorer neighborhoods where racial minorities make up the majority.
“I never would have guessed that if police stopped putting in the effort, that homicides would change like this,” Fryer said, according to the Wall Street Journal. “You hear some people say ‘Oh, we want to police our own neighborhoods, get out.’ No, you don’t want that. I guess I always knew it was a foolish idea, but I didn’t realize it was this deadly.”
Proactive policing does, however, come at a cost. Minorities are more likely to distrust law enforcement because they often become victims of racial profiling or police brutality. Still, 71% of minorities in cities with violent crime and poverty said they would be very likely to call the police to report a crime, according to a 2017 study by the Urban Institute.
To be sure, we need to reform our criminal justice system and increase accountability within law enforcement. But there are practical steps that we can take to get rid of cops who abuse their power and restore the trust that our police departments have broken, such as abolishing qualified immunity and busting police unions. Both of these reforms would bring about change. And, meanwhile, citizens would rest assured that if someone breaks into their homes, they’d still have someone to call.
If the Minneapolis City Council continues down this road, it will not be able to give its citizens that kind of assurance. But Bender doesn’t seem to care, since she now considers basic protections a privilege. Only those who have never worried for their lives, liberties, or property can say with confidence that they don’t need policing.
If that isn’t the very height of privilege, I’m not sure what is.
