Penalty reforms are ‘defund the police’ in disguise

For all those that see the need to defund the police, I congratulate you on your much more subtle approach to the situation. Instead of directly cutting back on police department funding, you figured out that decriminalizing unlawful acts works just as well to limit police actions.

First it was removing driver’s license suspensions for multiple violations and now it is decriminalizing drug possession. Is the carrying of hand grenades next on the list? Just like heroin or meth or a 3,000 pound car, they all have the capacity for severe personal harm, which is why the use and possession of such things used to be governed by law.

Fabian Borowiecki

Everett