America should reform its police forces, not defund them

a couple of years makes. In spring 2020 the murder of George Floyd, an unarmed black man, by a police officer in Minneapolis brought millions of people out of covid-19 lockdowns all over the world and onto the streets. After a wave of furious protests, and riots, some politicians on the American left adopted the protesters’ slogan: that the way to ensure that black lives mattered was to “defund the police”. The Democratic mayors of New York and San Francisco, among others, promised to cut police budgets.Today, few people think that is a good idea. As our in this issue explains, murders have surged in America. In 2020 the number of people killed was 28% higher than it was in 2019—the single biggest increase recorded in more than a century. In 2021 many cities saw further rises. Almost nowhere has been spared, including suburbs and rural areas.