Since George Floyd's killing, thousands of people have taken to the streets in every state to protest police brutality, revealing the pent-up anger over institutional racism nationwide. The protests are working. In a Monmouth University poll released June 2nd, 76% of Americans—including 71% of white people—called racism and discrimination "a big problem" in the United States. That's a 26-percentage-point increase since 2015. Also in the poll, 57% of Americans said demonstrators' anger was fully justified. This stark turn has forced elected officials to consider major change. The mayors of New York and Los Angeles have said they will redirect monies from police budgets. In Minneapolis, City Council members pledged to dismantle their police force and reinvent how public safety is handled.

As tens of thousands of people have demonstrated against police violence over the past two weeks, calls have emerged in cities across the country for fundamental changes to policing. What this moment demands is that we ask of ourselves, "What role does the police play in our society?" This is not to say the police are ineffective, but rather to acknowledge harm that police have caused to communities.

New Jersey needs to reimagine the role of police. In certain instances this can and should be done quickly, and in other cases, after some study. As the case of Mr. Floyd makes clear, calling 911 for even the slightest thing (the alleged passing of a counterfeit $20) can be a death sentence. Eric Garner died over selling "loose" cigarettes, Maurice Gordon died recently in New Jersey after being pulled over for speeding, Michael Brown died over a box of cigars, Sandra Bland died after failing to signal a lane change, Atatiana Jefferson died after a neighbor reported her front door was open, Walter Scott died following a non-functioning brake light, and so forth. None of these victims were armed. The solution to ending police violence and cultivating a safer country lies in reducing the scope of power of the police and their contact with the public.

The first and least controversial priority should be to have municipalities change policies so social service workers, not the police, are dispatched for certain kinds of 911 calls, which could be, say, 727 calls. Emergency calls for substance abuse, mental health, certain types of domestic violence, and homelessness should be directed to non-police specialists. Municipalities can begin by changing policies or statutes so police officers never respond to certain kinds of emergencies. Instead, health care workers, social workers or emergency response teams would handle these incidents. So if someone calls 911/727 to report a drug overdose, healthcare teams would rush to the scene; the police wouldn't get involved. If someone calls 911/727 to complain about people who are experiencing homelessness, rapid response social workers would provide those people with housing support and other resources. Community organizers trained in conflict interruption and restorative justice could mediate situations where no one's safety is threatened, like the selling of loose cigarettes. (We acknowledge that in some situations the response teams may need, in their discretion, to involve the police.)

Municipalities are already doing this work. Dallas has begun a program where social workers are dispatched to 911 calls involving mental health crises. In California, the Bay Area Transformative Justice Collective is working to build and support transformative justice responses to child sexual abuse.

Ultimately, reimagining public safety requires prioritizing education, housing, economic security, mental health, and alternatives to conflict and violence. This means that some money would need to be removed from police budgets and reallocated to other areas of need. The goal should be to end police violence. Measures and reforms like the banning of choke holds and repealing statutes that effectively hide police disciplinary records are necessary, but punishing police officers after the fact is simply not enough.

Police Departments across the country have served as social workers, therapists, and counselors for far too long. Crime often happens when someone has been unable to meet their basic needs through other means. So to really "fight crime," a gradual process of strategically reallocating resources, funding, and responsibility away from police toward community-based models of safety, support, and prevention will go a long way towards bettering our society.