The police: defund or defend?

Disputes among humans cannot wait for divine intervention to resolve them: this is why we have rules, those given by God and those created by man, that govern both the machinery for resolving disputes and the justice that should be inherent in their outcome. But setting the machinery of justice in motion and reaching a fair result are two quite different things, and the resolution of any dispute becomes far more difficult when part of the machinery for resolving disputes is itself a part to the dispute.  This has happened in some recent tragic instances in the United States, where the activities of a police force are the focus of contention.

In an ideal world, the function of the police force embraces the identification and, if necessary, the apprehension of people suspected of committing criminal offences, the verification of potential witnesses and the safe delivery into court of those in custody so that potential offenders may be charged and tried. In this ideal world the police have no interest in securing the conviction of the innocent or of doing anything that may reduce the prospect of any potential offender being tried by due process of law.  We do not however live in an ideal world and there is uncontroverted evidence that individual members of the police force, whether motivated by malice or an excess of zeal, overstep the parameters of acceptable behaviour. There is also the constant suspicion, for which there may be supporting evidence, that this behaviour is tolerated or even encouraged at a higher level.

From a distance of several thousand miles, it is easy to take an uninvolved, non-partisan and objective view of the problems faced by others and their possible solutions, without feeling or indeed appreciating the pain and angst, the fear and frustrations experienced on both sides. However, the issue of defunding offending police forces raises issues of principle that are so important that the issue has attracted a lot of attention in places far removed from the epicenter of recent malfeasances.

The police will have to be more cuddly
and user-friendly if they hope to regain
the confidence of the community

Pirkei Avot (3:2) teaches: "Pray for the welfare of the government, for without fear of it, a person would swallow his fellow alive". This teaching, from Rabbi Chanina segan HaKohanim is applicable in every country and every generation, as an op-ed in Hamodia has recently observed. However, the current problem is that many people are in fear that it is the police, as part of the machinery of government, which is swallowing people alive. While we should still pray for the welfare of the government, it should be apparent that this is not enough. Where the police require greater supervision, more moral and ethical training and root-and-branch reform or reorganisation, the proper course is surely to start by working out what is needed for the good of the community. Then calculate how much it costs.  Defunding the police, taken by itself, sounds like a punitive action that is akin to amputating an infected limb in preference to paying for the necessary medical treatement.