#defund12

Defund the Police. 

Important to note that many organizations use defunding the police as a step within the process of police abolition rather than just defunding, which we will discuss later. We leave it up to you to decide whether you think simply defunding or abolition will work best.

[ID: All slides except Slide 7 have text layered on top of a notebook as a background with light brown wood behind the notebook and a black pen sitting beside the notebook, to allude to the pen writing the text. In smaller black text, “@mengwe” is written at the bottom.

Slide 1: Black text on top of the notebook reads in large lettering, “Defund the Police.”

Slide 2: Black text on top of the notebook reads, “What Does ‘Defend the Police’ Mean? It means reducing police budgets and reallocating those funds to social services like education, healthcare, housing, youth services, and other programs and resources that communities need.”

Slide 3: Black text on top of the notebook reads, “When we say, ‘Defund the police,’ we are not saying ‘Get rid of police.’ We are saying that the police are overfunded. The NYPD’s budget is $5.6 billion dollars. That is more than NYC spends on the department of health, homeless services, housing preservation/development, and youth and community development combined! The LAPD increased their police budget ($2 billion dollars) this past year while simultaneously cutting the pay of 2.5 thousand civilian workers. Do you see the problem here?”

Slide 4: “Why Do We Need to Defund the Police? Government budgets and ‘public safety’ spending should prioritize housing, employment, healthcare, education, and other vital programs and resources that communities need. Funding these social services will help crime rates go down and provide communities with the resources and services they need to thrive. People with substance abuse problems, mental and/or emotional health issues should not be sent to the police. They should be sent to professionals who specialize in that field so that they can get the help that they need and have access to resources to learn how to handle their problems in a healthy and safe way.”

Slide 5: “Just so you know, the people saying ‘We can’t defund the police’ have: defunded education, defunded environmental protections, defunded healthcare, defunded state and national parks, defunded food safety, defunded the sciences, defunded the arts.”

Slide 6: “Some Facts: 

“Los Angeles’s proposed police budget for 2021 is $1.8 billion, which is more than half of the city’s total spending for the year.

“The cost of policing in the US tripled from $42.3 billion in 1977 to $114.5 billion in 2017.

“In 2017, Baltimore set aside $480 million dollars for its police department while its public schools got $265 million.

“The US spends around $80 billion each year on incarceration.”

Slide 7: A white background with black bold lettering that reads “How Much Do U.S. Cities Spend On Policing?” from the site Statista. Underneath, “Total police budget and share of selected cities’ general fund expenditure in 2020.” Underneath this a bar graph representing total police spending and percentage of general fund expenditure. New York City leads with $5.61b in police spending, 7.7% of general fund expenditure. Then Los Angeles at $1.73b and 25.5%, Chicago at 1.68b and 37.0%, Houston at $934.0m and 33.1%, Baltimore at $536.4m and 26.4%, Detroit at $330.0m and 29.9%, and Atlanta at $248.5m  and 30.3%. Lastly is Minneapolis at $163.2m of total police spending and 35.8% of general fund expenditure. One asterisk is next to the words General Fund Expenditure which leads to the bottom, “General fund is used to support city services like police, fire and parks, as well as planning, community development and administrative support services.” Two more asterisks are next to Minneapolis, leading to the bottom, “Latest Minneapolis data is from 2017. Sources: The Center for Popular Democracy, Law for Black Lives, Black Youth Project 100

Slide 8: Back to the black text on top of the picture of a notebook. “Effects of Defunding the Police: Replacing some police officers with trained social workers and special response teams. If someone calls 911 to report a drug overdose, a healthcare team can handle the situation. If someone calls 911 about homeless people, social workers can provide them with housing support and other resources. In addition, many people will have access to resources like shelters, job programs, affordable housing, addiction trained nurses, recovery counselors, trauma informed school counselors, and more.” The word “some” is highlighted in red. 

Slide 9: “How to Defund the Police,” written in black text at the top. Written in red text underneath, “Email/Call city council members and mayors and demand a reallocation of city budgets.” In black text again, “Go to: https://defund.12.org for email templates addressed to all of your city’s elected officials. ***Brooklyn council member Justin Brennan posted a video on Twitter scrolling through page after page of emails all demanding the same thing: Defund the Police. ‘Every Council member’s inbox for the past 3 days. The people have spoken,’ he said.” In red text, “EMAILS WORK!!!”

Slide 10: “What to Read to Learn More

“What Would It Mean to Defund the Police? These Cities Offer Ideas - Jon Schuppe 

“It’s Time to Reimagine Safety and Security in Our Communities - Jennifer Epps-Addison

“This Is What People Mean When They Say They Want to Defund the Police - Nicole Goodkind

“What Exactly Does It Mean to Defund the Police? - Amanda Arnold

“While Crime Fell, the Cost of Cops Soared - Polly Mosends and Jameelah D Robinson

“There’s A Growing Call to Defund the Police. Here’s What It Means - Scottie Andrew”