I found E. J. Dionne’s Washington Post column in reaction to the Brooklyn subway shooting yesterday grimly amusing. He declaims that our politics needs to “sober up” about crime but I think he could dry out a bit himself. The blocker for me in his column was this:
But the conservative politicians who work relentlessly to tie their moderate and progressive foes to slogans such as “defund the police†— which is currently being advocated by virtually no one active in politics — reject national action on weapons.
The problem is that it is not, as Mr. Dionne, suggests here, just a Republican talking point. This: “currently being advocated by virtually no one active in politics” is factually untrue. At least a dozen members of the House Progressive Caucus continue to advocate defunding the police. As this Forbes article makes clear, local elected officials have actually taken action to defund the police. Here’s a quick summary:
Chicago, Illinois
The city spent $17.3 million between 2015 and 2020 to guard “unnamed city officials.†That’s as Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she’s opposed to defunding police while – we found – 400 police officers positions were quietly cut during 2020.
San Francisco, California
The city spent $12.4 million between 2015 and 2020 to protect the mayor, London Breed. That’s as San Francisco officials promised to divest $120 million from police over two years and reallocate the money into health programs and workforce training.
The mayor’s police security detail cost spiked nearly $1 million over the past five-years.
The police department wouldn’t say how many officers were assigned. However, the city spent $1.7 million (2015); $417,489 (2016); $2.5 million (2017); $2.7 million (2018); $2.5 million (2019); and $2.6 million in 2020.
New York City, New York
The city slashed $1 billion from its $6 billion police budget in 2021, reallocating $354 million to mental health, homelessness and education services. The cuts mostly haven’t yet materialized.
That’s while Mayor Bill de Blasio sports a NYPD security detail. However, the NYPD has not yet responded to our open records request with more detailed cost information.
While de Blasio traveled the country during his failed 2020 presidential campaign, his police detail reportedly cost taxpayers $358,000. His wife and son also have security details, while his daughter canceled her protection a few years ago.
Baltimore, Maryland
The city spent $3.6 million in 2020 for 14 police to cover the Mayor, Brendon Scott; the States Attorney, Marilyn Mosby; and the Police Commissioner, Michael Harrison. Yet, Baltimore has eliminated about $22 million from its police budget. This story first aired on Fox Baltimore.
Protection for the mayor included six officers and one sergeant, costing almost $2 million.
The state’s attorney has three officers and one sergeant, costing $1.3 million. The police commissioner’s security detail included two officers and one sergeant, costing $464,948.
San Diego, California
The city budgeted for 2021, $2.6 million for 12 full time officers to protect the mayor, Todd Gloria; the city council during meetings; and for city administration building security.
However, the mayor’s budget calls for cutting $4.3 million from the police overtime budget, and spending more than $1 million to set up the new police oversight body, the Commission on Police Practices.
Denver, Colorado
The mayor frequently argues against defunding the police. However, the national media highlights Denver’s policy as a prototype “defund the police†model. The city is beta testing the use of healthcare workers to respond to domestic mental health calls instead of police.
Mayor Michael Hancock’s security detail is comprised of one sergeant and six detectives. In the last six years, the security cost taxpayers nearly $4.2 million: $621,399 (2015); $643,092 (2016); $716,262 (2017); $716,487 (2018); $740,737 (2019); and $746,743 (2020).
Other cities around the country
City spokespeople in St. Louis, MO; Durham, NC; Madison, WI; Rochester, NY and Norman, OK said their officials don’t have a police detail.
In the remaining 20 cities, spokespeople either confirmed that they have police details and included expenditures, or have not yet responded in detail to our open records request. Only one city (Salt Lake) rejected our request.
Our auditors at OpenTheBooks.com continue to follow up with these cities:
In Minneapolis, MN where George Floyd was killed, the city cut $8 million from the police budget to launch a mental health team to respond to certain 911 calls.
In Oakland, CA the city council cut the police budget by $14.6 million, while considering larger cuts down the road.
Portland, OR, cut $15 million from its budget and disbanded a gun violence reduction unit and transit team that had been accused of over-policing Black communities, among other cuts.
The mayor’s 2021 budget for Milwaukee, WI, cut 120 police officers, mostly through attrition and not hiring new officers, cutting about $430,000 from the overall budget. That followed 60 police jobs cut in 2020.
Atlanta, GA, Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms said her city has already reallocated around 50% of their corrections budgets to social services and community enhancement initiatives over the past several years, instead of those services being led by police officers.
Georgia banned defunding police – which it defined as cutting budgets by more than 5% in one year or cumulatively across five years.
In Seattle, WA, councilmembers initially pledged to meet activists’ demands and cut the police budget by 50%, but ultimately backtracked, passing a reduction of about 20%. They left vacancies unfilled and moved certain functions, like parking enforcement, out of the police budget.
Los Angeles, CA, approved a $150 million budget cut from its $1.86 billion proposed budget.
A $15 million police budget cut hit Washington D.C., where the Defund the Police movement became a hot button issue in the run-up to the 2020 election.
Philadelphia, PA slashed police funding by $33 million; Hartford, CT cut $1 million from its $40 million budget; and Salt Lake City, UT reduced its police budget by $5.3 million and denied our Freedom of Information Act request.
Austin, TX cut about $20 million from the police department, and moved another $80 million by shifting certain services out of law enforcement.
In Dallas, TX the city council kept the budget mostly intact but cut $7 million from the $24 million overtime budget and reallocated for other uses the in department.
Camden, NJ, was ahead of the curve, disbanding its police force in 2013, laying off all its police and handing its policing over to the county.
What would be factually accurate is that Democratic pols have learned that the words “defund the police” are a political liability so they’re avoiding them without rejecting the actual policy of defunding the police. Such sophistry might fool the rubes but it won’t improve the quality of our political discourse or our policies. Or reduce crime.
I agree with Mr. Dionne that we need to “sober up” our discussion of crime. We won’t accomplish that by replacing Republican talking points with Democratic ones.
“The problem is that it is not, as Mr. Dionne, suggests here, just a Republican talking point. This: “currently being advocated by virtually no one active in politics†is factually untrue.”
Furthermore, although I knocked off 14 liquor stores and shot 12 people in the period from 2020 to 2021, I am not currently advocating similar behavior and, accordingly, should not be prosecuted or criticized.
This a good example of hack writing. Lets do Baltimore though you can do similar for many others, especially those that say they are “considering” cuts. So Baltimore really did cut its budget by $22 million. In context, why would anyone bother with that, city revenues were down $103 million that year. At that time Baltimore spent more per capita for police than any city in the country. (Not sure if that includes DC but probably not.) Budget cuts had to come from somewhere. Next year there was a $28 million increase. It remains unclear to me why police budgets, uniquely, must always increase. Irrespective of performance too.
Oh, what the heck lets do Atlanta. ” in 2019 the city’s police department budget was $194 million. Since then, every year their budget’s increased, to $207 million in 2020, $215 million in 2021, and $230 million that’s been approved for 2022.”
Dallas 2019 $517 million 2020 $555 million As the article notes they cut overtime pay but not overall pay. Just for funnies google Dallas police pay. It looks like arguing about overtime is almost a yearly event. But according to this hack Dave cites its due to defund the police.
Really going to stop here. Now, are there really a couple of places that really defunded. Yup. Widespread? Not at alll? Ongoing? Nope. Will this be used to score political points by people who cite articles like the above. Oh Yea!
(What is with the $230 million retroactive pay for the FOP in Chicago?)
Steve
PS- How does Camden count? Really! They had the county do it rather than the city and that is defunding? Should we even mention that after that reorganization they had homicides drop by over 60%.( Nope, lets not mention that and just use it as proof that they defunded.)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/new-jersey-city-disbanded-its-police-force-here-s-what-n1231677
And lets not forget some state legislators are introducing bills to repeal criminal charges for gun possession by felons while some prosecutors are nol prossing such cases in the name of equity.
But fooling the rubes gets people elected.
Dave, get your family out of Chicago, at least a hour. Stark County is nice. My wife’s family has a farm. A two hour commute is a btch, but people in LA do it. I did an 1:15 each way for 23 years.
Also, get a gun. Anything. Shotguns are legal everywhere, and very effective.
Went through most of the rest of the cited cities. Maybe half had some real cuts. When you read about the cuts what is seen repeatedly is that cities were facing shortages of revenue due to covid. Police cuts were in line with other city cuts which for cities that had budget details going back over 10 years were in line with prior police budget cuts. Then you have places like DC where there was a cut, because they took school security spending out of the police budget and put it into the schools budget. Most cities, probably all but I got tired, have since had increases.
Steve
Seriously steve? Do you really want to stake out the position that defund the police is an illusion?
Defund the police was a kneejerk reaction and sop to BLM etc. The pols were falling all over themselves to sound woke. Major cities like LA, SF, and Minneapolis had real cuts. Others were contemplating cuts yet were beaten back by voter backlash, and the fading of election posturing. Yet others cut and then restored. Reallocated funding tended to go to pet projects, including things like city rec centers (Midnight basketball, anyone?) or loans to black businesses. As always, the talk was BS, but the bucks went to the politically preferred.
Further, you conveniently take a narrow view. Defund the police became the phrase to also defend DA’s who did not prosecute or gave lax sentences. All you have to do is turn the TV on and see the car jackings, the store lootings, etc. But I guess defund the police is just an illusion.
The whole movement was hair brained, and now that the obvious results are there to see politicians and other apologists are running from the concept as fast as they can. You, apparently, want to argue it never happened. But you probably believe in Putin’s inflation, too.
Did I say hairbrained? How about flat damned stupid.
https://hotair.com/jazz-shaw/2022/04/15/baltimore-doubles-down-on-failed-violence-intervention-program-n462561
Truth doesnt fit your narrative so you just stick to it. When you go through it city by city many never had the cuts claimed. Some had some real cuts, but they had cuts in the rest of their budgets. Revenues were down due to covid. You end up with a handful of cities that had cuts you could ascribe to BLM pandering and all of those have since increased funding. Defund the police is popular among a very small group of people. They couldn’t get it placed into policy except transiently in a few places. Most people reject it.
As i noted it is great politics for the GOP. Even though it barley existed and is essentially over it will be laid up through the next couple of elections. Maybe we even get some hearings on it. Yet another eternal conservative investigation.
Steve