In light of the recent events regarding police and black people, there are a lot of cries to once again defund the police or abolish them entirely.

Even Barack Obama is getting in on the action.

Former President Barack Obama called to “reimagine policing” after the death of 20-year-old Daunte Wright.

Obama used Wright’s death to reiterate his call to reform policing and to combat systemic racism. The former president also invoked the death of George Floyd, which Obama referred to as a “murder” and for which former Minneapolis Police Officer Derek Chauvin is currently on trial.

“Our hearts are heavy over yet another shooting of a Black man, Daunte Wright, at the hands of police,” Obama said in a statement. “The fact that this could happen even as the city of Minneapolis is going through the trial of Derek Chauvin and re-living the heart-wrenching murder of George Floyd indicates not just how important it is to conduct a full and transparent investigation, but also just how badly we need to reimagine policing and public safety in this country.”

Now, I don’t know if I’ve ever said this before in my life, but I actually sort of agree with Obama. We do need to imagine a different way of policing our communities. But when I say that we need to reimagine policing, I’m sure it looks much different than what Obama has in mind.

Let me explain:

I am one who holds to a view of the bible which says that God’s laws are just and that they should be used to derive our laws. At the same time, I recognize that there are some laws which are no longer applicable, but they hold principles that can be followed. We call this the “general equity” of the law.

For example, in the Old Testament, there was a law that required the owner of a house to build parapets on top of their homes. The reason for this is because the top of the home was a common place to socialize with visitors and a place to hang out. The parapet is a means of protecting the people who may wander too closely to the edge and fall off. So the parapet was there as a means of protection.

This is actually still done today. Just look at the grocery store the next time you’re out. The top of it isn’t flat, there is a parapet on it.

This was a law and not a recommendation. At the same time, if you didn’t build a parapet, you weren’t fined or thrown in jail or anything like that, but if someone came over and fell off of your house and was injured or died, then you were held responsible.

The modern-day application of this principle would be something like fences built around swimming pools so people won’t accidentally wander over, fall in, and drown.

So what I would say to this is that there shouldn’t be police constantly patroling and looking for criminals. There must first be a victim. Let’s use speeding for an example.

Right now, if a police officer sees you speeding he can pull you over and give you a ticket for simple speeding. There is no victim. No one reported a crime as a victim. The police simply saw you speeding and decided to stop you from doing that.

Remember, God’s laws are just and there was no penalty for NOT building a parapet because there was no victim. Likewise, there should be no penalty for speeding because there is no victim.

However, if you crashed and caused injury to someone or even killed them, you’re going to have to pay heavily through restitution or possibly even with your own life.

I could say much more about this, but you’d get tired of reading this article. If you’d like me to discuss this more in the future, leave a comment below and I’ll take it into consideration.

Sources:
Daily Wire