Commentary Calls for the blanket defunding of police are ill-conceived and self-destructive. The proof is in the spike of violent crime in cities that cut their police budgets during the last year. That said, it doesn’t mean that programs can’t be implemented to shift police priorities and share duties with other specialists, like mental health professionals, when responding to carefully screened 911 calls. Now, wait before you react. I’m not talking about sending out a lone social worker on a potentially dangerous call or cutting the number of officers on the street. This is about pairing the two forces as a first-responder team. It’s about recognizing that there are 8 million people in this country struggling with schizophrenia or bipolar disorder, to say nothing of all the other mental-health maladies, and many police officers are simply not trained to deal with them. Society has unfairly foisted this duty upon cops, …