<story><title>Minneapolis City Council members announce intent to disband police department</title><url>https://theappeal.org/minneapolis-city-council-members-announce-intent-to-disband-the-police-department-invest-in-proven-community-led-public-safety/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mikekhusid</author><text>The Camden thing is going around a lot but to me it seems like they did a reorg and actually ended up hiring more police.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.tapinto.net&amp;#x2F;towns&amp;#x2F;camden&amp;#x2F;sections&amp;#x2F;law-and-justice&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;camden-sees-crime-drop-over-past-decade&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.tapinto.net&amp;#x2F;towns&amp;#x2F;camden&amp;#x2F;sections&amp;#x2F;law-and-justic...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>TrevorAustin</author><text>&amp;quot;Dissolve the organization and start over from scratch&amp;quot; is an under-used solution in American life, even in the private sector.&lt;p&gt;Apparently Camden, NJ did a version of this in 2013 with a fair amount of success: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2020-06-04&amp;#x2F;how-camden-new-jersey-reformed-its-police-department&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2020-06-04&amp;#x2F;how-camde...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>limelight</author><text>Realistically, that&amp;#x27;s what will come from &amp;quot;abolishing&amp;quot; the police.&lt;p&gt;That&amp;#x27;s not necessarily a bad thing! A big problem with existing departments is decades of corruption, poor leadership, and entrenched policies. Tearing the department down and rebuilding it from scratch—even if you end up with a similar size as before—gives you the opportunity to remove the excesses&amp;#x2F;abuse. You can also do things like hiring more specialized positions and firing all the bad officers (because if the department is gone, the union can&amp;#x27;t protect them).</text></comment>
<story><title>Minneapolis City Council members announce intent to disband police department</title><url>https://theappeal.org/minneapolis-city-council-members-announce-intent-to-disband-the-police-department-invest-in-proven-community-led-public-safety/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>mikekhusid</author><text>The Camden thing is going around a lot but to me it seems like they did a reorg and actually ended up hiring more police.&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.tapinto.net&amp;#x2F;towns&amp;#x2F;camden&amp;#x2F;sections&amp;#x2F;law-and-justice&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;camden-sees-crime-drop-over-past-decade&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.tapinto.net&amp;#x2F;towns&amp;#x2F;camden&amp;#x2F;sections&amp;#x2F;law-and-justic...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>TrevorAustin</author><text>&amp;quot;Dissolve the organization and start over from scratch&amp;quot; is an under-used solution in American life, even in the private sector.&lt;p&gt;Apparently Camden, NJ did a version of this in 2013 with a fair amount of success: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2020-06-04&amp;#x2F;how-camden-new-jersey-reformed-its-police-department&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bloomberg.com&amp;#x2F;news&amp;#x2F;articles&amp;#x2F;2020-06-04&amp;#x2F;how-camde...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dcposch</author><text>They did a more than just a reorg.&lt;p&gt;Disbanding and replacing a PD eliminates the old police union contracts.&lt;p&gt;Those lopsided contracts are at the root of the impunity and violence we&amp;#x27;ve seen over the past week.&lt;p&gt;Many cities have made extraordinary contractual concessions, including:&lt;p&gt;- Secrecy clauses. Officer Bob might have 31 excessive force complaints against him, but the city is contractually forbidden from making that information public, or in some cases even retaining the records after X months.&lt;p&gt;- Arbitration for firing. Those clauses can be shockingly strong. The Philadelphia PD fired an officer for having Nazi tattoos. They were forced to reinstate him after arbitration. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;dburbach&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1269638494466514955&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;twitter.com&amp;#x2F;dburbach&amp;#x2F;status&amp;#x2F;1269638494466514955&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;Those clauses and more often add up to police that are effectively unfireable and therefore not under meaningful civilian control. Witness the head of a NYC police union taunting the mayor and openly flaunting the Right to Know Act &amp;#x2F; announcing that officers will be covering up their badge numbers.&lt;p&gt;Camden got a start fresh with no pre-existing police contract. For many cities, that&amp;#x27;s potentially worth a lot.</text></comment>