An abuse survivor called the cops when his partner threatened him. They didn't care.

Trigger Warning: Domestic Violence/Intimate Partner Violence

Over the past few weeks, demonstrators have called for institutional reform of the country's police departments. Some have even called for the complete dismantling of these departments. While engaging in dialog about the need to defund the institutions of oppression, several folks have come forward to ask how we would handle cases of domestic violence without getting the police involved. In a Twitter thread, one domestic abuse survivor revealed just how ineffective the cops actually are when it comes to cases of domestic abuse. His tweets went viral and responses from other survivors about their own experiences came flooding in.

KivanBay wrote, "One time I escaped an abusive boyfriend and I moved into a new place. Then a letter showed up at my new address for him, letting me know he'd found me. So I called the cops being like, 'He found me, he's gonna kill me.' And they were like, 'Okay, well, let us know if you die.'" The tweet went viral, garnering over 365,400 likes and almost 62,000 retweets. The Twitter user went on to explain why police departments are actually largely unhelpful when it comes to cases like his. "People bring up us domestic violence survivors as a gotcha when police abolition comes up, meanwhile I and every other [domestic violence] survivor I know is like, 'Cops are worse than useless,'" he stated. "Cops say they can't do anything until a crime is committed to [domestic violence] survivors [but] also will spray bear mace at a protester for nothing."

Instead of continuing to fund police departments, he called on governments to prioritize measures and "build systems that actually work." He continued, "I have previously explained but will reiterate that cops say they can't do anything to protect you, but just so you know if you protect yourself, they will likely arrest or kill you. So why was I thinking about this? Why bring this up? Why argue to abolish the police? People always [ask] me, 'If we abolish the police, who will stop domestic abusers or rapists?' They don't stop those people. For many of us, they didn't. For many, they were the ones doing it."

Some of the measures that KivanBay would rather see funding being diverted to include housing and other services for the homeless, things that actually helped him escape from his abuser. He concluded, "There is a proposed budget for the city of Portland that cuts funding from housing and homeless services, things that ACTUALLY helped me when I was escaping abuse, to give more money to the Portland police, bringing their budget to nearly a quarter of a billion dollars. Abolishing the police and moving those funds into guaranteed housing, into mental health care and social services, will do worlds more to help the victims of intimate partner violence and domestic violence than another six million to the police."

The responses to his thread were more than shocking. In one reply, a Twitter user revealed that her mom had experienced abuse at the hands of her father for several years. When the mother finally called the cops, they did nothing. She was killed that night. Another user wrote, "My ex broke into my house, choked me till I passed out, abducted me, and drove me around for two hours, threatening to kill me if I didn't take him back. I convinced him I would, then called the cops when I got home. They did nothing because I was 'home safe now.'" There are dozens of more stories like this. They all prove one thing: our police departments are ineffective. In the words of KivanBay, "Do not defend the existence of police with the existence of victims they ignore."