by Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse Blog
In recent weeks there has been a tremendous amount of debate about whether police departments around the country should be “defunded” or not, but what most Americans don’t realize is that it is already happening on a massive scale. At a time when crime rates are absolutely soaring and civil unrest is raging in major cities across the nation, police budgets are being deeply cut and in some cities there is talk of eliminating police departments altogether. I knew that a few cities had already made moves in this direction, but I had no idea that it was happening on such a widespread basis. According to a report prepared by the Police Executive Research Forum, nearly half of the law enforcement agencies that they surveyed “are reporting that funding has already been slashed or is expected to be reduced”…