https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZTl-kpUMAAhlGM.jpg When it comes to a myriad of different services that we have in the market today, if you don't like what you are getting then you have the right to stop paying and go elsewhere. But that isn't the case when it comes to police services. It's much more difficult to seek change for this service if you are unhappy with the results that you have been getting. For those who are outraged, disappointed, or disgusted, with the service that they have been getting, many are looking to target the wallet of those services. If they don't understand public outcry, mindful discourse, lawsuits, or formal complaints made, *maybe they will understand working with a smaller budget*. Maybe then they might start to get the picture. ## Right now there is an ongoing effort that is working to [see over $150 million cut from the LAPD budget](https://www.kcrw.com/news/shows/kcrw-features/mike-bonin-lapd-budget). Police say that taking money away from them means more crimes will be committed but is that true? Don't we see routinely that most of their efforts are spent on revenue generation tactics anyways? Or when they aren't busy with tickets, they might be busy going after one of the many millions of individuals who gets detained for victimless crimes every year. This is the time to get smarter with their resources and focus on necessary actions, like human trafficking, theft, arson etc, fraud, and less on growing marijuana. ### The LA City Council recently introduced a motion to decrease the [$1.8 billion budget the LAPD is working with](https://deadline.com/2020/06/lapd-funding-city-council-reduce-operating-budget-1202950507/). That is *just for one year* [of operations as well](https://www.bakersfield.com/ap/national/huge-protest-in-downtown-la-targets-city-s-district-attorney-others-demonstrate-around-southern-calif/article_c8892a2d-7912-5ae7-874d-9d4b8b4fd8fd.html). But if there is a growing change to defund those departments, they might just end up targeting more innocent people around the country and looking to make up the difference from them instead. We know that they already use arguably unconstitutional legislation like civil asset forfeiture to take billions of dollars from people who have never been charged with a crime or convicted of any wrongdoing. # The Value In Security Services https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EZS6sk1U8AEmeo6.jpg There is a need for security services and dispute resolution in the market and world as we know it. *All activities* that law enforcement agents engage in today are not harmful or unnecessary. When they arrest child predators for example or help a family to uncover who took their loved one, through the process of the justice system, these are valuable services that they provide to the community. But we are going to see issues when that service is provided by a monopoly that seemingly continues to operate with a license that exempts them from being held accountable. I have seen many posts in previous days calling for 'no more cops' and 'no more prisons' etc but no mention of what would replace those services. Defunding might be a beneficial tactic that could prompt some tangible change. However, abolishing those services altogether not only seems irrational *if there are no coherent suggestions made to take its place*, but also seems like a feat that most certainly would never be achieved. pics: [pic1](https://twitter.com/ShotOn35mm/status/1266890265224114176) [pic2](https://twitter.com/laura_nelson/status/1266842675619102721)