The turbulent confrontation last week pitted demonstrators seeking to defund the police against crime-weary residents who say they want the department to better serve them. “I don’t see how defunding the police is going to help anything in Englewood,” said Mr. Harris, 53 years old. A day later, Mr. Harris made funeral arrangements for his son, Keith Richmond. “I’m the last person who would be a police cheerleader, because I’ve had my own run-ins with them,” he said. Yet an increasingly vocal number of business owners, community leaders and residents say they are tiring of calls to defund police departments, viewing protesters largely as outsiders unwilling to do the hands-on work they say is required to improve Black communities.

Source: Wall Street Journal August 21, 2020 11:48 UTC