Alot of what police budgets are all about is extorting the tax payers. Lots of them just hang around doing nothing most of the time, or writing tickets to meet their quotas - in between their killings/beatings of blacks and browns (and others, suprising number of whites also are abused, yet I guess they don't care about protesting it). Then the cities/towns have to shell out tax payer money when they get sued for the bad actions of the police.

That's why 'Defund the police' is a provocative slogan that gets the conversation rolling in the right direction. It's not about some weak sauce 'reform' (that has been tried for years with no effect) but about busting up and remaking a fundamentally corrupt and entrenched institution.

As I said, I prefer the slogan 'Remake the police' or 'Reimagine the police' - but I get why BLM activists use the 'Defund' slogan - at it hits at the heart of the issue.