In the aftermath of Tyre Nichol’s death at the hands of five Memphis police officers, there have been renewed calls for defunding the police.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is one such individual to do so, even saying in a post on Instagram that “the effort to separate the officers who murdered Tyre Nichols from the system of policing that produced them is palpable”. She also mentions in her Instagram post that “police killings reached a record high in 2022. That has only been rewarded with more funding at the expense of schools, hospitals, housing, & more”.
First, although the word palpable is synonymous with the terms clear or evident (and also defined as being clear or evident), I think AOC should refrain from using big words in her online posts. She also needs to put things in plain English. I wonder if she’s trying to impress everyone by demonstrating how big her vocabulary is, as well as her level of intelligence.
Second, just how many of the police killings she mentioned were justified? Odds a majority of them were incidents in which the officer was forced to shoot a suspect who posed a threat to them or other individuals.
Third, just how many police officers were killed in the line of duty in 2022? AOC probably doesn’t care.
Fourth, police funding is just as important as the funding of schools, hospitals, and housing (much of which has been privately funded). Apparently she is unaware that many cities have jumped on the bandwagon when it comes to defunding the police, which in turn has resulted in crime skyrocketing in these cities.
Fifth, given the video footage, it is likely the officers involved in Nichols’s death will be convicted.
I should also point out that two of the police officers involved in Nichols’s death joined the Memphis Police Department after it had lowered its own hiring standards. So it’s a good bet that these two individuals were not qualified to be police officers, just like Mohamed Noor was not qualified to be an officer within the Minneapolis Police Department. Noor was in the headlines in 2017 for fatally shooting Justine Damond, a woman who was trying to report a crime to him and his partner. He was eventually fired and convicted for his actions.
At any rate, defunding the police is not the solution to these types of situations. Instead, the solution is high standards and sufficient training for law enforcement.
