Are we safe now? Is it almost over? It's hard to imagine defunding the police when we're constantly being bombarded with images of violent crime. But the reality is that the police aren't nearly as useful at fighting crime as they appear on TV. The media's obsession with "good guys" and "bad guys" makes for good entertainment, but it's causing us to cling to violent and counter-productive strategies for dealing with crime. The sooner we let go of our obsession with the police, the sooner we can start imagining better, more ethical alternatives. We just need to be brave enough to start.