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One of the biggest brands in the toy industry
was paying attention.
Did you know that
to stop advertising for its police sets?
This comes after an unarmed black man named George Floyd
died in the U.S., after a police officer
kneeled on his neck.
Now, some people are saying they want to defund the police,
but what does that mean?
How would you explain what defunding the police means
to all the kids watching at home?
What defunding the police means
is taking some of the responsibility,
some of the jobs that we ask them to do right now,
and giving those jobs to other organizations,
or other groups who are better able
and better quipped to do those jobs.
And at the same time that we move the work away
from the police, we move some of the money
or the funds away from the police as well
or we give it to those other organizations
and those other agencies or the other groups.
When I hear defund the police, I picture police stations
being shut down and nobody on the other line
when I call 911.
Is this kind of, sort of what we're talking about here?
So defunding the police is not talking about,
you know, totally doing away with police stations
and police as we know it.
With defunding, there would still be police available.
The whole point is that we've got to a place now
where we ask the police to do a lot of things that
they're not very well equipped to do.
The police are not very well equipped to deal with people
who are experiencing homelessness and issues
related to poverty.
The police are not very well equipped to deal with people
who are suffering from mental health problems.
There are other organizations and other agencies that
are better able to deal with those issues
and unfortunately sometimes when we call the police,
you know, there are some negative things that
could happen, such as, you know,
the police are able to use force.
That's a power that we'd give them
and that's an important power that we give them,
but anytime we call the police, there is the potential for that
to happen and if someone is suffering from
a mental health crisis, we want them to have help,
not be hurt.
Of course, some people dislike the idea
of defunding the police.
They say, taking money away from the police will cut ties
to special programs that help communities and potentially,
make our cities more dangerous.
What's your concern about the defunding idea?
My concern about the defunding is
I don't want to see good programs get cut
because when I think about, like, we have a unit here,
it's called the
is there're investigators and social workers who look after
children who've been abused and they investigate
the children who've been abused.
So, I would be afraid that defunding may cut programs,
such as that.
Some people say that situations involving mental health,
addictions, homelessness, would instead be handled
by a nurse or a social worker, instead of a police officer.
What do you have to say about that?
In 2019 we had to go out and assist EMS 3,405 times.
So, the reason we had to do that
is that the ambulance operators didn't feel safe
because they were threatened or assaulted by somebody
who was in crisis during that help.
So, we also have to go out to help them.
I don't think we have to go to every call,
but we also have to be available too,
because we don't want the mental health workers
to get hurt either.
So they need to be protected.
Elijah:
Why are we talking about
changing the policing system, anyways?
Akwasi:
at the hands of the police, I've been stopped
inappropriately, questioned inappropriately.
The more we have the police out of our lives,
when it's not completely necessary,
then the less likely they are to engage in those
discriminatory forms of behaviour.
The police have had years to improve the relationships
with the community and they've only made
a little bit of progress.
What makes you think that they can fix this now?
Well, I think given what's been happening today
and the terrible circumstances, that Mr. Floyd's life was taken,
I think that's going to be a catalyst for massive change.
I really, really do, because, if we don't learn from this,
we are in so much trouble.
Now that we've heard from both sides,
I wanna hear what side you're on.
Is it time to reinvest the money we spent in the police
somewhere else or leave things as it is and hope for change?
Tell us your thoughts by e-mailing us
at cbckidsnews@cbc.ca.
I'm Elijah Sandiford for
Peace!
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