By Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle, June 10, 2020
“Defund the police” is no longer just a slogan spray-painted across boarded-up storefronts or a theory supported by academics and community activists. The concept is now a movement being discussed on “Meet the Press” as part of the national conversation and pursued in cities across the nation — including San Francisco.
But the rapid rise of “defund” ideas comes in the middle of a presidential campaign, widespread unrest and a pandemic that has the nation’s anxieties in overdrive. Its advocates worry that the timing leaves the concept vulnerable to attack for what they insist it’s not — eliminating police departments.
“No one’s talking about a situation where tomorrow, there’s some magical switch and there are no police,” Alex Vitale, a sociology professor at Brooklyn College and author of “The End of Policing,” told CNN. “It’s hard to reduce these ideas down to a cardboard sign or a tweet.
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