Commentary: Reimagining Public Safety

By Chris Finnie

Defund the Police? I first heard of this on a sign held by a young man at a Boulder Creek Black Lives Matter protest. When I asked what he meant, he asked me, “Wouldn’t you rather see more money spent on education instead?” 

It turns out to be a bigger issue than that, with lots of different viewpoints on how far to go. But advocates on all sides agree that we now have a real chance to make policing and our entire country fairer and safer. 

Defund

The most common proposals are to change the way we approach public safety. Of course, that’s too long to put on a protest sign. But people in this camp point out that police are commonly asked to deal with a range of society’s problems from truancy and domestic violence to mental illness. They’re not really trained to deal with many of these issues, and don’t have the resources to truly solve them. Jails like Rikers Island in New York and Cook County Jail in Illinois are now the country’s largest mental health facilities. Again, that’s not something they’re set up to deal with effectively. In fact, prison can be the worst place for the mentally ill to be. 

The proposals here are similar to what the protester told me: Spend more money on drug treatment, low-cost housing, mental health, job training, anger management, and other programs that can prevent violence and other social problems. This is the approach that many other developed nations like Scandinavian countries have adopted.

Abolish

A more radical idea is to get rid of police altogether. Advocates of this solution decry the fact that so many other needs like education go unfunded. That cities and states go into huge debt holes to repair basic infrastructure. And that police departments get more funding year after year to pay for increasingly militarized equipment. 

Their contention is that the increasing militarization plays into an authoritarian attitude that alienates communities, worsens racial discrimination, and criminalizes social problems. But, while recent surveys find that a majority of Americans favor major police reform, only 15% actually say we should abolish the police. One large Gallup poll found, however, that 47% do support shifting funds to other programs.

Re-imagine, Re-invest

Most advocates agree that simply cutting police budgets will not solve the problem. Rather, they suggest that we need to invest more in non-policing solutions to society’s problems.

They imagine well-resourced violence mediators and mental health responders who could de-escalate disputes; schools with well-trained counselors instead of armed police; and governments that aggressively tackle social determinants of crime such as homelessness and lack of economic opportunity.

However, a Black police officer writes in the New York Times that departments should improve the quality of police instead: Hire people with a college degree. Pay them more. Reform police academies to include education on psychology, cultural sensitivity, communication skills, and de-escalation of conflict. He believes that, “Those who want things to stay the same will have no choice but to go elsewhere, because the world has changed. Policing needs to catch up.”

Where’s the Money?

According to figures from the Federal Reserve and the US Department of Justice, spending on the police by state and local governments jumped from about $2 billion in 1960 to $137 billion in 2018. At the same time, crime rates were actually in decline.

In New York City, spending for police accounts for 7.7% of the city’s budget—more money for the Housing Preservation and Development, Health and Mental Hygiene, Homeless Services, and Youth and Community Development departments combined. 

In 2018, Chicago appropriated nearly 18% of the city’s overall budget to the police. Meanwhile, only 2% of the budget was proposed for transportation and 4% for streets and sanitation.

In Santa Cruz County, the proposed 2020-2021 budget reflects different priorities. While it will likely be amended to reflect the full impact of the COVID pandemic costs and loss of revenues, the current County Health and Human Services budget is $324 million annually, while Public Safety and Justice is $73 million annually. According to the county analyst I spoke to, that proportion has been consistent for many years.

There’s no doubt that public safety is a high priority for American citizens. The debate today is whether there are better ways to deliver it, ways that are fairer to all our citizens.

Chris Finnie is a Boulder Creek resident. 

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