Why would the training be any different than it has been previously? We don’t need more Dante Wrights training people, we need less police killing people. The easiest way to do that is to have less police and to give them less money. The majority of the functions police currently serve in our society are better served by civilians. Police departments take up to 70% of their entire cities budget, significantly cutting into programs that actually help people, like Eugene’s CAHOOTS program or subsidized housing.

You don’t lower crime by increasing criminalization. You lower crime by improving conditions for those most likely to commit criminal acts, the disaffected, the poor, the homeless, and the deranged. You lower crime by putting more money into direct methods of assistance, and preventing the situations that create criminality.