In the wake of the George Floyd killing by Minneapolis police, many protesters have adopted the mantra of “Defund the Police.”

While veterans of the criminal justice reform movement use this phrase to mean reallocating public funds away from policing in favor of social services that support communities, some in the general public assume the point is to disband police forces entirely.

Is this a powerful slogan that effectively communicates the need for radical change in modern policing, or is it more likely to scare off average Americans who might otherwise be sympathetic to reform measures? In other words…