“Depolicing”

Driving home from holiday on a French motorway last week, we were passed by a convoy of gendarmes. Nine or 10 large blue vans, lights flashing, hurried past at high speed. I never did find out where they were going or what they were doing, but I was quite keen to get out of their way. La Gendarmerie Nationale has a reputation for ferocity, as you might expect from a unit of the armed forces.

The sight of the convoy was a timely reminder that the French state, with a population almost identical to that of Britain, has vastly more police and public-order resources available than our own authorities. The gendarmes number almost 100,000 officers, while the National Police employs another 145,000, although that figure includes civilian and support workers. With local municipal forces, the total rises to around 250,000. In comparison, the British figure, including the Police Service of Northern Ireland, is around 170,000.

Considering that National Police Week is upon us and Cop City — the moniker for Atlanta’s controversial public safety training facility — is now open for business, this is not a good time to be a police abolitionist. Just a few years ago, the #Defund the Police movement had some momentum among progressives, especially in big blue cities. Now it’s all but dead. All is not lost, however, if you’re an abolition dead-ender, the type to still peddle Ibram X. Kendi at your book club or graffiti the acronym “ACAB” (All Cops Are Bastards) on the pavement of your local skate park.

In fact, the long view is looking good.

The “defund the police” movement had its moment during the Black Lives Matter fervor of 2020. But even then, mainstream politicians distanced themselves from its rhetoric, and four-fifths of black Americans told Gallup they wanted to see the same or even more police presence where they lived. Over the next few years, voters in blue areas rejected defund-style ideas at the ballot box, while Democratic leaders worried that the party’s anti-police fringe would undermine its electoral coalition.

I’ve said it over and over again, they’re not defunding the police, they’re defunding your police protection.

They will always have walls of men with guns protecting them. When you call the police though, you’ll be told, “Sorry, we have no men available, have you considered checking your privilege.”

A prolific burglar has become the first to be jailed in a prosecution by a private police force after the local constabulary failed to investigate.

The thief, who had 105 previous convictions including 33 burglaries, was arrested by two detectives from the private policing company after he broke into an M&S store to steal £500 of sirloin, T-bone steak and 20 bottles of Prosecco.

Even though he was caught in the act on CCTV and the M&S store manager called the police, the Metropolitan Police decided not to investigate.

Soon Robodogs I bet.

Ridgely, Maryland is a very small town on the eastern shore with a population of roughly 1,600 people. It has most of the features you would expect to find in a small, northeastern town near the ocean. But as of this week, it’s missing one of those features. Ridgely currently does not have a police department.

Remember 9/11 and how we all valued the heroic efforts of the NYPD? Yes, it does feel like we were living in a different country. Or should I say the country that we grew up in or where we valued the importance of the men in blue.

Enter Pittsburgh, where they are facing a shortage of police officers. This is the story …

Nothing kills a police department faster than destruction of officer morale—and in the BPD, morale is dead.

The “thin blue line” symbolizes the police’s role in maintaining civilized society. The police are the barrier between the law-abiding and the criminal, the vulnerable and the predatory, order and chaos. Across the United States, police are under attack and the blue line is wavering. In Baltimore, it has broken.

Experts blame campaigns against the police since the death of George Floyd

Andrea Suarez can recall in vivid detail the first body she discovered on the streets of Seattle.

A volunteer who cleans up drug-infested neighbourhoods, the 48-year-old found decomposing human remains in a portable lavatory near a children’s playground in 2021.

The victim is believed to have suffered an opioid overdose, one of many Suarez has stumbled upon while sweeping the streets of needles, burnt foil and other drug paraphernalia.

Shattered glass lined the sidewalks. Downtown Portland was recovering from nightly riots five days after George Floyd’s police death. I was downtown with friends, helping businesses recover from the latest bout of violence. Officers with the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) were taking reports from damaged businesses.

More than three years later, Portland police are still struggling to respond to crime. The PPB is dealing with high response times, high crime rates, and low staffing levels, according to a Manhattan Institute report released Sept. 14.