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One of the biggest brands
in the toy industry
was paying attention.
Did you know that Lego
has asked stores
to stop advertising
for its police sets?
 This comes after an unarmed
 black man named George Floyd
 died in the U.S.,
 after a police officer
 kneeled on his neck.
Now, some people are saying
they want to defund the police,
but what does that mean?
How would you explain
what defunding the police means
to all the kids
watching at home?
What defunding the police means
is taking some
of the responsibility,
some of the jobs that
we ask them to do right now,
and giving those jobs
to other organizations,
or other groups
who are better able
and better quipped
to do those jobs.
 And at the same time
 that we move the work away
 from the police,
 we move some of the money
or the funds away
from the police as well
or we give it
to those other organizations
and those other
agencies or the other groups.
When I hear defund the police,
I picture police stations
being shut down
and nobody on the other line
when I call 911.
Is this kind of, sort of
what we're talking about here?
So defunding the police
is not talking about,
you know, totally
doing away with police stations
 and police as we know it.
With defunding, there would
still be police available.
The whole point is that
we've got to a place now
where we ask the police
to do a lot of things that
they're not very
well equipped to do.
The police are not very well
equipped to deal with people
 who are experiencing
 homelessness and issues
related to poverty.
The police are not very well
equipped to deal with people
who are suffering
from mental health problems.
 There are other organizations
 and other agencies that
are better able
to deal with those issues
and unfortunately sometimes
when we call the police,
you know, there are some
negative things that
could happen,
such as, you know,
 the police
 are able to use force.
 That's a power that
 we'd give them
 and that's an important
 power that we give them,
but anytime we call the police,
there is the potential for that
to happen and if someone
is suffering from
a mental health crisis,
we want them to have help,
not be hurt.
Of course, some people
dislike the idea
 of defunding the police.
 They say, taking money away
 from the police will cut ties
to special programs that help
communities and potentially,
make our cities more dangerous.
What's your concern
about the defunding idea?
My concern about
the defunding is
I don't want to see
good programs get cut
because when I think about,
like, we have a unit here,
it's called the Zebra Centre
and what they do,
is there're investigators and
social workers who look after
children who've been abused
and they investigate
the children who've been abused.
So, I would be afraid that
defunding may cut programs,
such as that.
Some people say that situations
involving mental health,
addictions, homelessness,
would instead be handled
by a nurse or a social worker,
instead of a police officer.
What do you have
to say about that?
In 2019 we had to go out
and assist EMS 3,405 times.
 So, the reason
 we had to do that
is that the ambulance
operators didn't feel safe
because they were threatened
or assaulted by somebody
who was in crisis
during that help.
So, we also have to
go out to help them.
 I don't think we have
 to go to every call,
but we also
have to be available too,
because we don't want
the mental health workers
to get hurt either.
So they need to be protected.
Elijah:
 Tear it down, build it up.
Why are we talking about
changing the policing system,
anyways?
Akwasi:
I've experienced discrimination
 at the hands of the police,
 I've been stopped
 inappropriately,
 questioned inappropriately.
The more we have
the police out of our lives,
when it's not
completely necessary,
then the less likely
they are to engage in those
discriminatory
forms of behaviour.
The police have had years
to improve the relationships
with the community
and they've only made
a little bit of progress.
What makes you think that
they can fix this now?
Well, I think given
what's been happening today
and the terrible circumstances,
that Mr. Floyd's life was taken,
I think that's going to be
a catalyst for massive change.
I really, really do, because,
if we don't learn from this,
we are in so much trouble.
Now that we've heard
from both sides,
I wanna hear
what side you're on.
Is it time to reinvest
the money we spent in the police
somewhere else or leave things
as it is and hope for change?
Tell us your thoughts
by e-mailing us
at cbckidsnews@cbc.ca.
I'm Elijah Sandiford
for CBC Kids News.
Peace!
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