Defunding the police means prioritizing
public services, investing in communities
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
The months-long protests over police
brutality and systemic racism has mobilized
hundreds of thousands of New
Yorkers — and one of the main calls
coming from community members and
elected officials is to “defund the police.”
But what does that mean?
Although it might be a confusing
statement at first, advocates say the
calls to defund the police translate to
directly investing in communities and
prioritizing social services over a criminal
justice system that perpetuates the
disproportionate abuse of Black, Brown,
immigrant and minority communities.
The goal is to provide people with the
basic resources they need to live better
lives, such as inclusive education, affordable
housing and accessible health
care — services many say are desperately
needed now more than ever due to
COVID-19’s impact.
“We need to direct cost-savings towards
the Department of Youth and
Community Development, education
and adult literacy, housing, housing the
homeless, and social services that keep
our communities safe and healthy,”
Make the Road NY wrote in their call
to defund the police and have police free
schools.
Some may argue those social services
already exist and are adequate, but
if that were the case — why are schools
overcrowded? Why is there a housing
crisis while there are more than 90,000
New Yorkers who are homeless? Why
was the health and hospital system overburdened
once COVID-19 hit, leaving
low-income and minority neighborhoods
to suffer the worst of it?
When it comes down to city and state
budget negotiations, oftentimes it’s social
services working to address those issues
that either don’t get a budget increase or
are among the first to get cut.
In the time of the pandemic, which
Mayor Bill de Blasio said has left the
city with a $9 billion deficit, there have
Photo by Dean Moses
already been cuts to programs that have
a positive impact on the city’s youth —
namely, the suspension of the Summer
Youth Employment Program.
The program was one of the first to
go due to COVID-19 fears and the budget
crisis, but community members and
City Council members believe it was a
mistake.
Councilman Donovan Richards,
who’s the chair of the Council’s Committee
on Public Safety, addressed the issue
during a rally for the repeal of 50-A on
June 4.
“The mayor has the gall to want to cut
the Department of Youth and Community
Development’s budget by 48 percent,
the mayor proposed to cut the Summer
Youth Employment program,“ Richards
said. “If you’re a mayor who’s standing
for justice and inequality … you would
only cut one percent of the NYPD’s budget.
Yet, the mayor proposed to graduate
a new police class at the cost of $25 million.”
According to Schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza, the DOE’s budget
was also facing hundreds of millions
in budget cuts. The DOE planned to cut
the “Single Shepherd” program, which
placed 130 counselors and social workers
TIMESLEDGER | QNS.10 COM | JULY 10-JULY 16, 2020
in historically underserved neighborhoods
in the Bronx and Brooklyn, according
to the New York Daily News.
During a Tuesday, June 30, press
briefing, de Blasio said the 2021 budget
will restore the DOE’s budget and fund
the “Single Shepherd” program.
Activists and elected officials are
calling for priorities to shift moving forward.
NYPD among top three city
agencies with largest budget
Expenses for the NYPD will total
almost $11 billion in 2020, comprised of
the NYPD’s nearly $6 billion operating
budget and $5.3 billion of costs “centrally
allocated” of city funds, including $2.3
billion for fringe benefits, $2.8 billion
for pensions, and $215 million for debt
service, according to the Citizens Budget
Commission. The NYPD’s centrally allocated
costs are significantly high since
uniformed health insurance and pension
benefits are “more generous than
for other city employees,” according to
the CBC.
The NYPD is among the top three
city agencies with the largest operating
budgets, after the Departments of Education
(DOE) and Social Services (DSS).
The NYPD’s budget, including the centrally
allocated expenses, accounts for
11 percent of the city’s current $98 billion
budget.
In April, while the mayor’s executive
budget for 2021 showed significant cuts
to other sectors, the NYPD’s budget was
“mostly left intact,” according to Public
Advocate Jumaane Williams.
The City Comptroller’s office recommended
the city cut $1 billion over four
years, with $265 million in cuts annually
by reducing uniformed headcount
through attrition, scaling back overtime
and trimming Other Than Personnel
Services.
“Breaking down structural racism
in New York City will require long-term,
lasting change — and that must include
reducing the NYPD’s budget,” Comptroller
Scott Stringer said. “If our budget is a
reflection of our values, it is unconscionable
that services for Black and Brown
New Yorkers are on the chopping block
while the NYPD’s budget remains almost
entirely untouched.”
First steps to change policing
The City Council committed to cutting
$1 billion from the NYPD’s 2020-21
budget as a response to the marches and
demonstrations across New York City,
which were sparked by the police killing
of Minneapolis’ George Floyd, Louisville’s
Breonna Taylor and countless
other Black people in the United States.
As a result of the Black Lives Matter
demonstrations — some of which
have been met with police violence
and a questionable curfew instated
by the city earlier in the month — the
city banned the use of chokeholds
and Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into
law a repeal of 50-A to grant more
transparency of the NYPD.
But these are just some steps that are
part of a bigger movement to fundamentally
change the way policing works, not
only in the city but the whole nation.
“It’s not just about police reform; it’s
about educational reform, mental health
reform, social service reform. It’s about
health care reform and environmental
justice reform,” said Jamaell Henderson,
a professor at City University and from
the CUNY Rising Alliance, at a press
briefing on the steps of Tweed Courthouse
on Sunday, June 28.
Some ideas to immediately address
those reforms include having professionals
trained in mental health, substance
and/or domestic abuse deal with people
who need intervention rather than police
— as people with untreated mental
illness are 16 times more likely to be
killed during a police encounter, according
to the Treatment Advocacy Center.
Advocated have also called for investment
in drug rehabilitation rather than
punishment as another way to address
those underlying needs.