Since last spring’s murder of George Floyd by police and the rise of the Black Lives Matter movement, U.S. leaders at all levels have promised to address systemic racism.
One demand by the Black Lives Matter movement has been to defund police — a term that has many different definitions from total funding cuts to race sensitive training to partial loss of funds with the savings allocated to trained social workers who will accompany police and defuse mental health situations.
To most people, the total or even severe defunding of police makes no sense. More sensible policy would be to train police better on race relations and to have trained social workers accompany police in situations that might be dicey.
Although Floyd’s unnecessary death is only months behind us, the question arises: what have leaders done about this issue?
A recent article in Bloomberg News sheds some light on the reaction to this police defunding demand by the Black Lives Matter movement.
The 50 largest U.S. cities cut their police budgets for 2021 by an average 5.2 per cent in response. But pandemic issues may have spurred some of the cuts.
Bloomberg found law enforcement as a per cent of general expenditures rose to 13.7 per cent from 13.6 per cent.
Two cities, Minneapolis and Seattle have watered down measures taken to defund police.
In Minneapolis, response to a crime wave had the city reduce police overtime, develop some policing alternatives and recruit more officers — next year.
Seattle at first considered slashing the police budget by 50 per cent, opting for an 11.2 per cent cut after the black police chief resigned in protest.
Severe police budget cuts have occurred in a few cities: Austin, Texas cuts were 33 per cent; New York City cut 14.8 per cent; Minneapolis cut by 14.8 per cent,
San Francisco diverted $60 million from police salary increases to funding in public health, public housing and programs for African American women.
Los Angeles took $150 million from the police budget for communities of colour.
Funding cuts to police have come at a time when crime increased because of the pandemic. Drastic as these cuts are, one wonders how long they will last.
The public pressure to combat crime, usual budget pressures and pandemic pressures create an untenable situation for municipal leaders.
Momentum from Black Lives Matter movement protests has resulted in quick responses. But are they enough to satisfy the Black Lives Matter movement and its sympathizers?
Changing police culture and other areas of systematic racism won’t happen overnight, considering the situation reflects over 200 years of practice.
It would be a safe bet to say that protests on racial issues will continue in the United States.
Black Lives Matter movement followers want instant results. Politicians, constrained as they are by budgets and voter concerns, won’t be able to deliver.
The consequence: continued racial tension in the United States, tension that may negatively influence the pace of reform and reconciliation.
Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author, and do not necessarily reflect the position of this publication.
