4 THE QUEENS COURIER • JULY 9, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Defunding the police means prioritizing
public services, investing in communities
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
aacevedo@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e 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
offi cials is to “defund the police.”
But what does that mean?
Although it might be a confusing statement
at fi rst, 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.
Th e goal is to provide people with the
basic resources they need to live better
lives, such as inclusive education, aff ordable
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 suff er the worst of it?
When it comes down to city and state
budget negotiations, oft entimes it’s social
services working to address those issues
that either don’t get a budget increase or
are among the fi rst to get cut.
In the time of the pandemic, which
Mayor Bill de Blasio said has left the city
with a $9 billion defi cit, there have already
been cuts to programs that have a positive
impact on the city’s youth — namely,
the suspension of the Summer Youth
Employment Program.
Th e program was one of the fi rst 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.
“Th e 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.
Th e DOE planned to cut the “Single
Shepherd” program, which placed 130
counselors and social workers 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 offi cials 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 benefi ts, $2.8 billion for
pensions, and $215 million for debt service,
according to the Citizens Budget
Commission.
Th e NYPD’s centrally allocated costs are
signifi cantly high since uniformed health
insurance and pension benefi ts are “more
generous than for other city employees,”
according to the CBC.
Th e NYPD is among the top three city
agencies with the largest operating budgets,
aft er the Departments of Education
(DOE) and Social Services (DSS).
Th e 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 signifi cant
cuts to other sectors, the NYPD’s budget
was “mostly left intact,” according to
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams.
Th e City Comptroller’s offi ce 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 Th an Personnel Services.
“Breaking down structural racism
in New York City will require longterm,
lasting change — and that must
include reducing the NYPD’s budget,”
Comptroller Scott Stringer said. “If our
budget is a refl ection 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
Th e 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,
Photo by Dean Moses
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. Th e months-long
demonstrations have culminated with a
sit-in at City Hall, or Occupy City Hall,
spearheaded by VOCAL-NY, to demand
the city follow through with at least a $1
billion cut of the NYPD’s budget.
On June 30, their demonstrators were
met with police in riot gear who detained
some of the protesters.
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