Minimalism and Policy: Policing
To me, minimalism isn’t just about having less, it’s about redistributing our resources, like time, energy, and money, to better match our priorities. This understanding aligns with somewhat trivial things, such as clothes shopping and room décor, but it also aligns with more serious things, like public policy.
As a minimalist, I don’t want governments to spend as little money as possible. In many areas, I wish governments would spend much more. Still, I want governments to redistribute our tax dollars to better match what I believe should be our priorities as Americans. This includes dismantling systems of oppression and supporting antiracist policies. One clear example where this applies is policing. The recently popularized, although not new, call to defund the police, demands to do just that.
Like all movements, there are diverse understandings of what it means to defund the police. Some want to completely abolish police officers, saying anything less accepts state-sponsored violence committed against Black people and other minoritized groups. Others see a heavily reduced role for law enforcement as the solution. Regardless, it’s agreed that the current level of spending on police is ineffective at preventing crime and often instigates violence disproportionately against Black communities. Currently, police budgets make up 20% to 45% of discretionary funds across governments. We can reallocate these resources to fund antiracist education, housing, workforce development, environmental protection, and other social policies.
One example where this reallocation works is health care. Substance use contributes to both arrests and recidivism. One treatment facility can reduce the cost of crime by $4.2 million a year. Diverting resources to health care demonstrates a respect for the lives of substances users, rather than leaving those communities unsupported and subject to police violence. It also no longer asks law enforcement to respond to people with mental illness or addictions, which they are not adequately trained to do.
Police violence against Black people is normal and it shouldn’t be. This requires radical solutions. I offer the lens of minimalism as a framework to understand and support these radical solutions.
I encourage you to learn more at:
https://www.blackvisionsmn.org/
https://www.reclaimtheblock.org/
https://defundpolice.org/