Cities like Minneapolis are seriously discussing how to defund law enforcement. It’s an absurd idea that only liberal democrats would ever suggest. There are people that do terrible things to other people. That’s why we need the police.

You’re just cruising down the road thinking about everything except safely operating a motor vehicle when you see the distance blue lights in your rearview mirror.  Anxiety sweeps over you when you look at the speedometer and realize you’re doing 72 mph in a 55 mph zone.  Shit!  Shit!  Shit!  You let off the gas and coast down to 59 mph just to show the cop you care somewhat.  As the lights get closer you start to feel like the last antelope in the herd.  You look again in your rearview mirror and the lights have disappeared!  Where the hell is he?  The next thing you know, Sheriff Buford T. Justice is passing you in hot pursuit of the bandit.  Thank God!

For most people, encounters with the police are traffic related.  We don’t like getting speeding tickets – especially on streets that seem to have artificially low speed limits designed specifically to set up speed traps.  Those fines feel like a real shake down by law enforcement.  Yet, on our street, in our neighborhood, where our children play, we expect everyone to obey the posted 25 mph speed limit.  Our hypocrisy knows no bounds sometimes! 

What would your town look like if the police never patrolled the streets looking for traffic violations?  It would be 3-wide racing in every turn!  People would be flying and dying left and right.  If you attempted to do the speed limit, you’d be going so slow that you would actually be causing a hazard.  Without the police conducting traffic patrols, the only way to be safe on the roads will be to run with the herd doing 85 mph and hope for the best. 

We all want people to drive safely and observe all traffic laws unless it is us doing the law breaking.  Then we just want everyone to get out of our way and save their road rage for somebody that might actually give a fuck about what they think about our driving.  I got your one-figure salute right here asshole so learn how to drive and shut your mouth. 

This is just a sliver of what will happen when leftist cities across the United States follow Minneapolis down the road of complete lawlessness by defunding their police departments and replacing them with a community-led public safety system.  The United States of America is a nation of laws.  If the people no longer like a law, they rally and get their representatives in the statehouse or U.S. Congress to change the law or eliminate it.  That’s how the system is supposed to work.  The entire system breaks down when laws are not enforced or only certain laws some of the time.  The system also fails all of us when it treats some black and brown people more harshly than certain white people.  After all, equal protection under the law is also a law. 

Most people are in favor of fewer arrests, but not by ignoring the laws.  Laws have to change.  We need less of them.  And most misdemeanors should result in a ticket issued at the scene, much like a traffic ticket.  There is no good reason to handcuff and arrest a man for selling a loose cigarette in New York City.  None whatsoever.  A ticket for the alleged crime would suffice.  When rethinking what public safety means to the people of Minneapolis, the hundreds of petty crime laws will have to be addressed.  Which ones will be enforced and by who?  Will we see a new type of code enforcement officer – something between a parking meter officer and a police officer?  It will be interesting to see what all these liberal anti-police cities design to keep people safe in their communities. 

During all the deliberations, discussions, and debates that will ensue over the next twelve months in Minneapolis, what will not be able to be ignored is the fact that bad people exist and do bad things to other people.  Hurt people hurt people.  Who is going to investigate murders?  Who is going to arrest a suspected murderer that is known to be armed and extremely dangerous?  If you think a social worker is going to talk this type of suspect into a jail cell you are absolutely delusional.  Rapists, murders, batterers, and more are not going away.  Who is going to track these types down and place them under arrest?  It will take armed police officers to bring these suspects in so that they may have their day in court. 

We still need the police to deal with a hostage taker that has already killed two people and is holding ten more.  Who else is going to surround the building and attempt a rescue of those ten hostages – risking their own lives in the process?  Who else is going to run up the stairs when everyone else is running down? 

But are the cops a necessary evil?  When I see cops killing suspects for no good reason it really pisses me off.  Cowboy cops I call them.  Most of them should have never got past the first screening.  They completely lack the temperament and empathy required to be a great law enforcement officer.  Deadly force should only be used as a last resort, and only when the suspect or suspects are presenting a clear and present danger to the officers or other citizens.  Furthermore, that damned Thomas A. Swift Electric Rifle or TASER, which claims to be a non-lethal (debatable) alternative to discharging a firearm has been used more like a cattle prod than anything else.  Many allegations against police officers for using excessive force include the TASER or similar device.  Many times, the TASER escalates resistance to law enforcement commands which then leads to the suspect getting shot.   Have you noticed how many officer responses to such allegations will say, “…and the suspect attempted to grab my TASER which led me to discharge my service weapon”?

The truth is that the police are necessary.  Very few of them are evil.  They are not a necessary evil.  They’re just necessary.  Personal liberty and freedom, our pursuit of happiness and our neighbor’s pursuit of happiness require men and women to enforce our laws.  There is no lasting joy to be found in lawlessness, because sooner or later, it finds you.