Adbusters: Blackspot the Police

'Byron Hammick, Kendra James, James Jahar Perez, James Philip Chasse, Amadou Bailo Diallo, Julian Alexander, Bobby Tolan, Oscar Grant and Alexandros Grigoropoulos. These are the names of innocent, unarmed individuals executed without a trial by police officers (source). Of course, the list is not exhaustive and shootings seem to be occurring with greater frequency as police departments become increasingly militarized. There is even talk of developing softer handcuffs that can be used on children as young as five years old (source). The death of Alexandros Grigoropoulos in Athens sparked riots as did the videotaped execution of Oscar Grant in Oakland, CA. But while riots may relieve the anger of the moment, they also function to justify increasing police budgets. What if we took a different tactic and blackspotted the police by building a movement to de-fund the police and replace them with community safety patrols.'

http://www.adbusters.org/blogs/blackspot_blog/blackspot_police.html

and abolish the taxes that paid for it. The police force was a little more than 50% of the annual budget.

There was some outcry, which tended to go along class lines. The township is a formerly rural area that has been overrun by fairly high end development. The old-time locals don't care about the police, and the folks in the McMansions care a lot.

We're still supposedly covered by the State Police (PA), but they are stretched increasingly thin all over the state. Essentially, we don't have any cops. Works for me.