I knew this was coming, but I didn’t previously realize it was already here. Notice the date on this article. They didn’t waste any time.
by Robert J. Kane, opinion contributor – 07/17/20 6:30 PM ET
Suppose we reimagined the nature of American policing? And suppose we started by acknowledging that local policing has been a failure in this country since its origins in the 19th Century? From slave patrols in the South, to controlling the ‘Dangerous Classes’ in the North, the foundations of local policing were built on the assumption that state-sanctioned coercion was to be weaponized by the white and wealthy against the poor, black, and brown.
And while the House recently passed a comprehensive police reform bill, it still largely aims to control the “downstream” aspects of policing: use of force, restraint holds, methods to hold police accountable. It doesn’t address the structural features of local policing that produce such uneven policing service across the U.S.
And so, at this crossroads, I pose the radical question: Why not disband most local police forces and federalize them? Not under the seemingly obvious choice of the Department of Justice — which would simply perpetuate policing’s singular focus on crime fighting — but under the U.S. Public Health Service.
Instead of spending the $115 billion it takes to annually fund local policing, states could voluntarily cost-share to fund policing under the U.S. Public Health Service, an arrangement that could realize many benefits.
First, the Public Health Service — with the help of a national advisory board of expert practitioners, community members, and academics — could standardize policies, training, recruitment, and hiring processes across the U.S. Moreover, federalization limits the ability of known “problem” officers jumping from one police department to another due to lack of data sharing across agencies. Perhaps most importantly, bringing local police under the authority of the Public Health Service would give policing the attitude adjustment it needs to start viewing itself as a key institution in advancing the overall public health mission of the United States.
The Commissioned Corps of the U.S. Public Health Service is charged with protecting the health of the nation, particularly in vulnerable and under-served communities. These tend to be the very communities in greatest need of protection by police, but which often require protection from the police due to disproportionate rates of deadly force, K-9 deployments, and serious misconduct.
Federalizing the police under the Public Health Service would allow us to realign our crime fighting strategies with our public health goals; and it would increase the capacities of both institutions: Police would still “fight” neighborhood crime but through a lens that emphasizes public health, recognizing that high-crime communities are often unhealthy communities. And the Public Health Service would control a national workforce of locally deployed police officers who could case find, contact trace, and help educate the public on how to slow the spread of highly contagious diseases.
