Misleading slogan hinders police reform

We live in a time where opinions are too often formed by reading only headlines or a tweet. This is why it’s important to understand that, in the fight for social justice, the words we choose to use matter. Many of the people calling for us to “abolish the police” don’t actually want to get rid of the police force entirely with no alternative — they are instead calling for police reform. But thanks to the chosen slogans — “defund the police” and “abolish the police” — time that could be spent advocating for police reform is actually being spent explaining that the movement isn’t actually asking for what the slogans say. And a catchy but inaccurate slogan can make it very easy for people to dismiss and even mock the entire movement.

We saw this happen during the height of the #Metoo movement. When the phrase “believe all women” was used as a rallying cry, it didn’t mean we should treat every allegation as true unless proven otherwise, as the phrase seems to suggest. It meant that we should take all women’s accusations seriously and investigate their claims. But because of the way it was phrased, even today, many people still use the slogan “believe all women” as a way to criticize the #Metoo movement as unrealistic, even reckless. As more people continue to call for us to “abolish the police,” the message, which in most cases actually involves police reform, will continue to get lost in translation, making it easy for people to shut down the idea before even taking the time to look into it.

Slogans aside, many of the arguments made by those calling for police abolition actually make sense, even if the catchphrase is incredibly misleading. The sought reforms don’t mean we should privatize security or that everyone has to fend for themselves, it means we need to have the police address fewer of our social problems and redirect the problems and funding to agencies better equipped to deal with them. This includes social workers, mental health providers, victim advocates and more. We can’t police our way out of social issues. We’ve tried. It brought us here.

The main functions of the police, at least in North America, are to control crime, maintain order, and provide basic social services. And in all functions, the tools the police are most equipped and trained to utilize are fines, threats, handcuffs, arrests and, when necessary, lethal force. The problem with this is that, as violent crime rates continue to drop across North America, the majority of police training and the tools available to them aren’t relevant or suitable for the day-to-day work they’re actually involved in.

And to make things worse, even though violent crime is at an all-time low, police funding continues to grow every year. The funds and resources could be easily reinvested into the same communities they are policing. When it comes to social issues like homelessness, drug abuse and mental illness, there should exist a separate body dedicated to addressing these issues in a way that focuses on rehabilitation, rather than intimidation and punishment.

This is why using the slogan “abolish the police” is misleading. We need the police to do their essential job — but we don’t want them doing other jobs.

If advocates for police reform want more allies on our side, we have to be clear with our messaging, and the words we choose to use are very important. These slogans, the terms we get trending on social media, can easily become the lasting impression of these movements.

So if you’re in fact calling for police reform and not abolishment, then I encourage you to stop using the phrase “abolish the police” and instead, say exactly what you mean — “reform the police.” At least this way it will allow people to ask themselves “reform to what?” — it will start a conversation, not shut one down.