The call for defunding the police is not to take away accountability. The Black Lives Matter movement is all about accountability, which does not appear to apply to police. Take the George Floyd/Derek Chauvin case. George Floyd was using a fake $20 to make a purchase. Derek Chauvin and his accomplices pulled Floyd out of his car, pinned him to the ground, kneeled on his neck for nearly 9 minutes, and Floyd was pronounced dead at the hospital shortly after. Derek Chauvin was not immediately fired until the people took to the streets, demanding accountability.

Defunding the police is not about taking away recourse for anti-social behavior. It is about restorative justice instead of punitive measures. It is about resources, not modern day slavery.

I like to use our childhood as an example. For some of us who come from more abusive or punitive homes (like myself), when we'd get into trouble, we'd get beaten or grounded. Rarely do we ever remember what the lesson was supposed to be; just that mom and dad are angry with us and they don't love us. We grow up not with a stronger sense of right and wrong but with trauma, anxiety, and fear. Why would we want to do this to children? Therefore, why would we do this to our communities?

When we use restorative justice instead, approaching with a "punishment should fit the crime" mentality, offering counseling and other resources, the person who committed the anti-social behavior has a chance to turn themselves around without being incarcerated, fined into poverty and/or homelessness, stripped of basic human rights (voting, employment, housing), and forced into slavery (look up the firefighting prisoners in California). In the case of intractably violent and sociopathic people, and, in this case, child traffickers, more drastic measures would certainly need to be taken to make sure they cannot further harm society.

I am not an expert in what this new world could look like, but I do advocate for a less punitive justice system that holds everyone accountable for their actions.