.jpg)
.jpg)
Ke'Shunta Drake is an Assistant Editor at Historianspeaks.org. She is a graduate student at Michigan State Unviersity where she is completing studies in English Literature.
Defunding the police has become a rallying cry for changing how law enforcement agencies engage with the Black community and communities of color. Increasingly popular since the slaying of George Floyd, the term “defund the police” may appear new but is not. Defunding the police does not mean the abolishment of law enforcement and the concept can and does assume many different forms. One way to defund the police is to reallocate funds from the police department to other agencies, such as social welfare, mental health, and education. Other methods include downsizing the police bureau and overall reformation of the local law enforcement system.” Defunding the police is more commonly referred to as “reforming the police.” By looking at how three communities: Camden, New Jersey, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Portland, Oregon have wrestled with the term—defund the police, and implemented this approach in their local communities. as they reimagine their relationship with the police department.
Before Camden, New Jersey decided to “reform their police department” in 2013, the crime rate was 18 times the national average. The city experienced a public safety crisis. Residents complained about the excessive use of force. Camden was known as the murder capital of the country, and its crime rate ranked among the top five in the nation. The city desperately needed change, so the mayor and the city council decided to disband its 141-year-old police force. The initiative was known as “community-oriented policing.” It involved regular street patrols, officer and community interaction and measuring officer performance differently. Performance evaluations changed to emphasize service and safety levels in the community. Trust between officers and the communities they served was prioritized. Reformation of Camden’s police department led to a tremendous decline in crime and fewer excessive force complaints.
While Camden’s reformation of its police department was among the earliest of its kind, reforms in Minneapolis are the latest. The murder of George Floyd led the Minneapolis City Council to propose a defunding bill to the city’s commissioner. The proposal cut existing allocations for law enforcement and redirected the funds to create a new safety and violence prevention department. In August, however, the Minneapolis Charter Commission announced the need for more time to consider the city council’s proposal. In the meantime, the city council reallocated or repurposed 1.1 million dollars from the police department to the health department to fund “violence interrupters,” a mediation and problem-solving program. As a result of the defunding proposal, many officers were taken off the street. The city council is rethinking the request and considering adding emergency staffing. The additional staffing will cost the city $500,000. Minneapolis continues to debate the defunding proposal.
Recently, Portland, who has a long hotbed of activism that focuses on a range of social justice and human rights issues ranging from on police brutality to the environment, proposed a defund the police bill. Introduced in July, the bill reallocates 18 million in funding from the city police department. The council planned to reinvest the funds into revitalization projects in the Black community. City council members are rethinking their decision about the bill. Their objections related to concerns about undermining public safety and destabilizing law enforcement. Some city commission members refused to vote on the matter. The amendment has failed multiple times. Because of the repeated failure to pass the bill, Portland city commissioner, Jo Ann Hardesty, called out her fellow commissioners for their “lack of courage.” Hardesty said: “The people have spoken. And I am quite sure they are just as disappointed as I am with the lack of courage in this historic moment where, just for a second, Black Lives matter in Portland.” The Portland city council has yet to reach a conclusive assessment regarding defunding the police.
Defending the police begin as an initiative to reform law enforcement to serve the community better. Public misrepresentation of this idea has associated it with abolishing the police, National figures ranging from Jim Clyburn, the Majority Whip in the House of Representatives to former President Obama have suggested the concept is nothing more than a “catchy slogan.” Yet examining how the idea has evolved which is complex and adaptable to local conditions—defunding the police consists of reallocation funds earmarked for local law enforcement agencies to other budget priorities, such as education, social welfare, and mental health agencies. Camden, New Jersey is the best example of how reforming the police department helps the community. Local implementation of defunding the police has supplied benefits for the police departments and organizations. The success of local initiatives should lead us to rethink the national presentation of this concept as merely “abolishing the police.” Nothing could be further from the truth.