I think
@Mr. Deez's answer is fairly accurate, but of course I'd shade it differently.
Yes, the most radical activists call for disbanding the police altogether. They are all over the map in terms of what (if anything) they'd replace the police with, but the uniting thread is an unwillingness to reform from within because they feel the entire system is irredeemably corrupted.
For a much larger number of people, defunding is focused on certain aspects of policing. In addition to the things Deez points to, a key focus is ending the practice of having police handle situations involving drugs, domestic violence, and mental-health issues. Police officers are not properly trained or equipped to handle those situations, so all too often they make things worse. The goal is to transfer both funding and responsibility from the police department to social-service agencies.
The reformers ignore or downplay the fact that many of these situations are dangerous. Thus, the gold standard would be to send both a social worker and a police officer. But that would be expensive, so ultimately this is a question of resource allocation.
My view is that the "defund" movement doesn't have all of the right answers, but they deserve credit for finally bringing these long-neglected problems to the forefront.
