Corporate America Does Not Support Defunding the Police. Why?

An article posted by CNN discusses the reluctance of companies who released statements after the George Floyd killings to support defunding the police. The article states that none of the companies contacted said they support defunding police departments. Citigroup, Bank of America, Chase, and Twitter declined to comment. Facebook, Amazon, and Google did not respond to multiple requests for comment.

We can assume the defund the police initiative is not in Corporate America’s interest for many reasons. For instance, if you are a company like Wal-Mart, law enforcement’s ability to stop threats to your ability to operate underpins your success. Why would any of the companies be interested in supporting a system that impedes profiting based on the current status quo? The Wal-Marts and Amazons of the world need a law enforcement apparatus to protect their businesses. The corporate environment hides behind a system that protects their interests and props up their future chances to succeed. Defunding the police provides no upside for them.

This “defund the police” movement is based on the premise that communities are over-policed, and the departments are investing in military-style weaponry. People feel this is an overreach and does not account for the nation’s communities’ real issues. Corporate America could help in the needed areas by partnering with these communities by providing capital, mental health services, technology, and community policing training. I assume events like riots are not good for business and cost companies millions of dollars; therefore, it is far more
advantageous to deal with the root causes than to put a patch on or double down on the injustice that already exists.

Nobody wins when things are too unstable for business to be successful. This needs not to be the case. Places like Florida are implementing laws against the rioters but fail to deal with the underlying issues.