Ok, the protesters and @Here4money seemed to know more about this than I did, when they first raised the issue. I'm a believer now.
Compton has been majority Hispanic for a decade, Blacks dispersed to the high desert areas, Lancaster etc., where real estate was, is cheaper. Probably 80% Hispanic now as this is 3 yrs. old. http://www.city-data.com/races/races-Compton-California.html
I mean that Camden and Compton did disband the police and reformed it so we can look there to see what it actually means.
Again, Pretty sure Camden actually doubled its police force. It did change how those officers worked the streets, but it wasn't disbanded at all. And its still a shithole.
It's not a bad idea to have a social worker roll out with police on some of the less violent domestic disputes, maybe some of the general community policing. Can't really hurt, will probably help some, but to think it puts a dent in the gangbanging, violent crime, robberies, muggings, rape, etc., that is just plain naive.
Camden disbanded their police force due to excessive corruption and rebuilt it. The city got fed up with what was going on and tore it down and built it back up. Disband does not mean get rid of in this instance.
I just want to make sure we are clear. I don't think anyone on the right or left is saying we shouldn't take a hard look at police forces and do what we can to revitalize and redesign the approach to policing. This is yet another example of how we could actually achieve good things if we just use the right words and are honest with each other rather than trying to be incendiary all the time. But that's not what politicians want. They want us at each other's throats. If the Minnesota council came out and said "we want to redesign the police force and there are other models (like Camden) that have shown some early success" I don't think anyone would argue against it. At least not anyone of worth - after all, what is the downside to re-looking at something to determine if the best model works? But that's not the soundbytes coming out of the council. All we hear is "dismantle the police". "Disband the police". And the head of the council, that fucktard chic who went on CNN didn't mention anything of value other than "get rid of the police". When she was asked point blank what people would do when they needed a cop, she had ample opportunity to state quite clearly what could happen based on the Camden model. But she didn't. She skirted the issue because she has no idea what this would look like. This is the problem, 85.