OCT 2020 Blues Vol. 36 No. 10

tial threats. However,

tial threats. However, most of their interactions with civilians start with a conversation. Advocates for the defund movement like Phillip McHarris and Thenjiwe McHarris argue that shifting funding to social services that can improve things such as mental health, addiction, and homelessness is a better use of taxpayer money. This approach further enhances the push to decriminalize and destigmatize people with mental health conditions and addiction problems. Ever since the overcriminalization of people addicted to crack cocaine in the 1990s, some scholars, practitioners, and policymakers have said that this shift is long overdue. Additionally, the research I have conducted with hundreds of police officers show that they respond to everything from potholes in the street to cats stuck up a tree. Police officers are also increasingly asked to complete paperwork and online forms. Obviously, documentation is important and desperately needed. The overwhelmingly blank report in the killing of Breonna Taylor in Louisville that listed her injuries as “none” highlights the importance of documentation. It could be argued, however, that reducing officer workload would increase the likelihood of solving violent crimes. Police officers are overworked and overstressed. Focusing on menial tasks throughout the day is inefficient and a waste of taxpayer money. Other government actors should be responsible for these and receive adequate funding for doing them. HOMICIDE CLEARANCE RATE Police officers are not as successful as people think at solving violent crime. My Brookings colleagues Andre Perry, David Harshbarger, Carl Romer, and Kristian Thymianos argue that “the failure to prosecute murderous police typifies a bad overall track record with solving violent crimes: Approximately 38% of murders, 66% of rapes, 70% of robberies, and 47% of aggravated assaults go uncleared every year.” Maybe in baseball or basketball these rates make a player an all-star, but the public expects police officers to be more successful at solving violent crime. More importantly, police stops relative to charges and convictions are relatively low. To show how egregious this is, a study of the NYPD stop-and-frisk program found that well over 90% of people stopped by the police were not committing any crime and did not have any contraband or weapons on them. Overwhelmingly, the people stopped were Black and Latino, and physical force was used half the time. Interestingly, police were more successful at identifying criminality for whites versus Blacks. This is because officers use suspicious behavior when interacting with whites and use skin tone as the metric of suspicion when interacting with Black people. More police on the streets may be used to control the movement of Black bodies rather than solving crime. This is why the New York State Supreme Court ruled stop-and-frisk as unconstitutional. No-knock warrants and chokeholds should follow this pattern. EDUCATION AND WORK INFRA- STRUCTURE One consistent finding in the social science literature is that if we really want to reduce crime, education equity and the establishment of a work infrastructure is the best approach. A study using 60 years of data found that an increase in funding for police did not significantly relate to a decrease in crime. Throwing more police on the street to solve a structural problem is one of the reasons why people are protesting in the streets. Defunding police—reallocating funding away from police departments to other sectors of government—may be more beneficial for reducing crime and police violence. WHAT DEFUNDING LOOKS LIKE In recent weeks, some large municipalities with a history of police brutality have reallocated funds in line with the defund police movement. Los Angeles will have at least $100 million reallocated away from LAPD to programs for minority communities. San Francisco Mayor London Breed said that she will work with community groups to reprioritize funding. Baltimore City Council voted to reallocate million away from the po- COURTS Chief Justice Nathan Hecht (R), Texas Supreme Court Justice Brett Busby (R), Texas Supreme Court Justice Jane Bland (R), Texas Supreme Court Justice Jeff Boyd (R), Texas Supreme Court Judge Bert Richardson (R), Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge David Newell (R), Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Judge Kevin Yeary (R), Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Justice Russell Lloyd (R), 1st Court of Appeals Justice Terry Adams (R), 1st Court of Appeals Judge Ken Wise (R), 14th Court of Appeals Judge Daryl Moore (D), 333rd District Court Judge Michael Landrum (R), 164th District Court Candidate Bruce Bain (R), 165th Civil District Court Candidate Fred Shuchart (R), 215th District Court Candidate Arlene Hecht (R), 351st District Court Candidate Alyssa Lemkuil (R), 507th Family Court HARRIS COUNTY Ed Gonzalez (D), Harris County Sheriff Mary Nan Huffman (R), Harris County District Attorney Alan Rosen (D), Pct. 1 Constable Mark Herman (R), Pct. 4 Constable Ted Heap (R), Pct. 5 Constable Sylvia Trevino (D), Pct. 6 Constable May Walker (D), Pct. 7 Constable Phil Sandlin (R), Pct. 8 Constable Candidate Linda Garcia (R), Harris County Court at Law 12 Candidate Bill Harmon (R), Harris County Court at Law 16 Candidate Chris Daniel (R), Harris County Tax Assessor Candidate Stan Stanart (R), Harris County Clerk Candidate Tom Ramsey (R), Harris County Commissioner Lincoln Goodwin (R), Harris County JP MONTGOMERY COUNTY Chris Jones (R), Pct. 5 Constable (Montgomery County) Judicial Candidate Vince Santini (R), 457th District Court (Montgomery County) FORT BEND COUNTY Eric Fagan (D), Fort Bend County Sheriff Judge Maggie Jaramillo (R), 400th District Court (Fort Bend County) GALVESTON COUNTY Henry A. Trochesset (R) Galveston County Sheriff STATE RACES Senator Brandon Creighton (R), District 4 Senator Carol Alvarado (D), District 6 Senator Larry Taylor (R), District 11 Senator Pete Flores (R), District 19 12 The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE The BLUES POLICE MAGAZINE 13