CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — In Boston, Mayor Marty Walsh is looking at shifting more of the police department’s budget toward training.
Boston is one of several large cities where local leaders are taking a closer look at funding levels for police departments. This includes Minneapolis where the City Council has voted to “disband” and “reorganize” the department where four officers are charged in the death of George Floyd.
Right now in Cambridge, the conversation isn’t about dismantling the police department, but the council is looking at a proposed policy that could be a step in that direction. The conversation to defund police has been gaining momentum with recent protests but has been happening much longer.
“This is not a conversation we rushed into,” said Cambridge City Councilor Jivan Sobrinho-Wheeler. “We have gotten 2,000 emails about this, more than any other topic since I’ve been in the council, and there’s a lot of research about this like how do you solve things without policing with jobs, healthcare, affordable housing, etc...”
[ New Cambridge police policy requires officers to intervene in cases of excessive force ]
Many of those residents who emailed gave their thoughts to the City Council for hours on end at a public hearing Monday.
They shared about better places to put money that are not in policing on a proposal to cut funding to the local police department."
"Cities all over the nation are realizing that investing in social services has a much better outcome for people especially poor black and brown residents of areas then does increasing police funding," said Amanda Chan of Harvard Prison Divestment Campaign.
Cambridge police are asking for a couple of million dollars more for its budget. However, because of COVID-19, the city has less money and is now debating if decreasing police funding could decrease crime.
"There’s not enough funding for mental health care so now the police are doing that," said Sobrinho-Wheeler. "There’s not enough affordable housing so now the police are being asked to deal with homelessness, let’s not ask the police to do all that. Let’s put funding toward all these other issues to address the cause of the problem."
"We work hand-in-hand with the schools, we work hand in with city services & we work in hand with the public health department and it happens on a regular basis," said Jeremy Warnick, director of communications and Cambridge Police Department. "So in terms of allocation of funding the reality is we’re still gonna be involved in it with all those programs no matter what and if anything we could probably do more with funding."
Several community members told the city council a proposed solution to allowing leaders in the black community to help allocate funding to help reverse the inequities in the system. They felt increasing police funding would reward a militarized police force which has systematically oppressed certain people and created a culture of fear."
"We don’t need to send men with guns and pepper spray that doesn’t help the situation," said Chan.
"I can see a world with the end of policing," said Sobrinho-Wheeler. "That world will still have Public Safety in it, it will not have policing and that may sound like a semantic difference but it’s a real one."
Follow Wale on Facebook: WaleAliyuTV Twitter: @WaleAliyu or Instagram: WaleAliyuTV