Defund the

Police –what
does it mean?
  Rooted in long history
 Part of revisioning the police AND the prison
systems. Police are the gatekeepers to the
History of the system – remember how we discussed the
interdependence of the justice system’s
idea of components. Police are at the beginning of the
justice continuum.
reducing/getting  In academia – Walter Benjamin, Critique of
rid of police Violence (1921), W.E.B. Du Bois, Black
Reconstruction (1935) – foundational texts for
abolitionist theory.
History
Black Panther Party – late
1960s/early 1970s;
advocated for replacement
of state-operated police with
community-based
enforcement model.
late 1960s/early 1970s
Angela Davis, Ruth Wilson
Gilmore, Mariame Kaba –
argued that the very idea of
police was oppressive, as was
the idea of prisons – need to
defund police and prisons.
1990s
Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi,
Patrisse Cullors – launched
the ‘Black Lives Matter’
hashtag in 2013 in response
to Trayvon Martin’s death
2013
  Black Lives Matter has fueled the Defund Police
movement and brought it into mainstream
dialogue and media.
 the Defund Police movement is interconnected
Today with the Black Lives Matter today; the deaths of
George Floyd (and Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud
Arbery, etc.) have focused attention on the
behaviours and activities of police
Defund – what does it mean?

 Generally speaking, it is call to decrease police budgets, size of police

departments, scope of activities, and powers of police
 At its extreme, it is a call to get rid of police as we know it
 Simultaneous to this decrease, an increase in investments into ‘well-being
services’ (to tackle homelessness, mental illness, addictions, affordable housing,
unemployment, lack of educational opportunities, etc.)
 “reimagine” (Hochman, in The Dispatch, June 22/20) policing/social control in
society
 The movement is based on the idea that if money spent on law enforcement was
redirected to social services to deal with the correlates of crime, there would be
less crime/police would not engage in situations that they are unqualified to deal
with – Peter Enns, professor at Cornell University: “The solution is better jobs,
better education, better drug treatment programs” (Hochman, 2020).
 those opposed to defunding have argued/continue to argue that we
need police to keep society safe. U.S., 1970s, 80s and 90s – Nixon,
Reagan, Clinton administrations poured money into police departments to
fight a ‘war on crime’.
 But: 1) police do not have resources to deal with mental health crises or
homelessness, and 2) they are not trained/prepared to deal with
underlying reasons for crime.
 Some call for ‘reformist reforms’ – providing police with MORE money,
resources and training. The Justice in Policing Act (June 8/20): Do we need
introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives – implicit bias training,
body cameras, mandatory reporting of incidents involving use of force.
Opponents of this approach argue that it neglects to address the
police?
fundamental issues of racism and violence in policing (e.g. campaign called
#8CantWait – https://www.8toabolition.com/why.
Examples of change defunding police

 1) Minneapolis: pursue community-led public safety system to replace the

police department – a year-long analysis (resolution passed June 12/20).
 School board voted to terminate contract with Minneapolis Police
Department for school police officers
  2) Portland, Oregon:
 June 9/20, Mayor set these goals:
 1. divert $12 million from police to support
communities of colour

Examples…  2. defund 3 special police units

 3. remove officers from high schools
 4. ban chokeholds
 5. cases of intentional discrimination subject to formal
action
Examples…

 3) San Francisco – June 11/20, Mayor set the following goals:

 1) police NOT to respond to disputes between neighbours, reports regarding
homeless people and school discipline interventions
 2) ban use of military-grade weapons, including tear gas and tanks, against
unarmed civilians
 3) redirect funding from police hiring to investing in marginalized
communities
Examples of reduced policing

 These are examples of programs that have reduce reliance on traditional

policing (even before the current call to defund police):
 1. Eugene, Oregon:
 CAHOOTS model, in place for the past 30 years: collaboration between police
and community service crisis intervention clinic. 911 calls involving mental
health issues (and other “non-legal matters” (Tchoukleva, Beattie, Cottle,
Jun3 18/20: 6) rerouted to the CAHOOTS response – medic and a crisis worker
(without police) assess and connect person to ongoing care. CAHOOTS team
can call police for backup if cannot handle the situation. Out of 24,000 calls
in 2019 (that they responded to), they called police for backup 150 times).
  CAHOOTS model saves Eugene (and Springfield) around
Eugene, $15 million (that would be spent on police, emergency
response, ER visits, jail). In 30 years, not a single injury
Oregon or death has been attributed to the CAHOOTS team.
  2. Sacramento, California
 1) MH First – model for non-police
response to incidents involving
mental health crisis (Anti-Police
Terror Project)
Sacramento,  This community-based response deals
California with incidents involving psychiatric
emergencies, substance use and
domestic violence (where victim
removal is necessary).
 The team consists of mental health
professionals and a security member.
Sacramento, California…

 2) The Sacramento Police Department has three new teams: 1. mental health
team to deal with mental health and behavioral emergencies, 2. a team to
handle emergencies correlated with homelessness, and 3. a hospital team
at two hospitals that helps with people’s needs who come in.
 These teams are available to police as well as the public (to call).
 The Sacramento Police Department works in partnership with over 50
organizations that provide assistance with housing, counselling, suicide
prevention, etc.
 THIS IS POLICE INVOLVED IN PROVIDING SERVICE, ONE OF THE FUNCTIONS OF
POLICE THAT WE IDENTIFIED IN THIS COURSE.
Oakland, California

 1. Anti-Police Terror Project (https://www.antipoliceterrorproject.org/),

Community Ready Corps (http://www.crc4sd.org/) – offer support for
activists (bail), help those who have experienced police violence, are involved
in providing non-police security for community events and work on violence
prevention in the community.
 2. Oakland City Council – have commissioned a report on a pilot project
(began July 2020). This project, called Mobile Assistance Community
Responders of Oakland (MACRO) will deal with 911 calls involving mental
health issues. These calls will be directed to a community team. The project
will also deal with non-emergency crises such as dispute resolution,
transportation to various services and assist in situations involving
homelessness, substance abuse, intoxication, disorientation and mental
illness.
Oakland, California…

 3. Caught in the Crossfire program (

http://youthalive.org/caught-in-the-crossfire/.) – intervention ‘specialists’
visit young people who are victims of gun violence to attempt to convince
them (and their friends/family) NOT to retaliate. Also offer trauma support
and support in healing.
 4. Youth Alive – provides ‘violence interrupters’ to mediate conflict and
diffuse tension among young people
 5. Critical Assistance – a national police abolitionist organization – involved in
Oakland Power Projects (https://oaklandpowerprojects.org/mission.) These
projects are involved in prevention of crime by identifying reasons for
criminality. Also developing alternatives to dealing with situations which do
NOT involve calling the police. In fact, some communities have collectively
agreed to not call the police.
Dallas, Texas

 Police and mental health workers work in PARTNERSHIP to respond to mental

health (behavioral) emergencies.
 The team includes a paramedic, behavioral health specialist and a
specially trained police officer. There has been a 20% decrease in mental
health patients in emergency rooms.
New ‘defund the police’ initiatives

 1. Minneapolis – June 12/20 – City Council passed a resolution to pursue the replacement
of the police department with a community-led safety alternative – a year-long analysis
 June 2/20 – school board voted to end contract with the Minneapolis Police Department
(for school-based police)
 2. Portland – June 9/20 – Mayor’s goals:
 1) take $12 million from police budget and direct it to services to support communities of
colour
 2) termination of three police units (this includes the gun violence reduction team)
 3) ban chokeholds
 4) remove officers from public high schools
 5) the Portland Committee on Community Engaged Policing – a community oversight group
 6) take formal action in cases involving intentional discrimination by police
New initiatives…

 3. San Francisco – Mayor’s goals set on June 11/20:

 1) police not be involved in situations involving homeless people, neighbour
disputes, school discipline situations
 2) ban use of tear gas, tanks, etc. against unarmed people
 3) redirect money from police to assisting ‘marginalized communities’
 4. Denver – June 11/20 – Denver School Board terminated contract for
provision of school-based police.
In conclusion, two (and more) schools of
thought on the idea Defund the Police
 1. Hochman (June 22/20) argued in his article titled “The Origins of ‘Defund the
Police” (The Dispatch) that hiring MORE police has a correlation with the
reduction of crime.
 Furthermore, he argued that the argued correlation between poverty and
crime is unsubstantiated.
 Hochman concludes (2020): “America’s overbrimming prison population is
indefensible; all the all-too-frequent instances of brutal and sometime deadly
interactions between law enforcement and American citizens should make
apparent the need to reform the glaring systemic brokenness of police
departments throughout our nation. But in their zealous quest to rid the
world of injustice, those who would dismantle our law enforcement in pursuit
of abstractions risk losing sight of the limitations inherent to THEIR OWN
NATURE” (capitals are mine).
Conclusion…

 He argues (2020) that violence, in fact, is “an inescapable aspect of the

intrinsically broken human condition”….”The vast body of human history
seems to act as a rebuke to the idea that criminal activity and violence could
be eliminated by any systemic reform”…”The push for a society without
police or prisons is predicated on the belief that such a society is materially
possible; but at the very least, the lack of historical precedent for such a
political project should give us pause”.
The opposing view…

 Others have the opposite view; Tchoukleva, Beattie and Cottle (June 18/20:1)
argue that “policing is a system of control and punishment used through the
centuries to uphold the dominant social order of white supremacist
capitalism”…. “…policing as an institution is more often the sources of harm
rather than a solution to harm” (p.3)
 We need to address the underlying reasons for criminality through community
engagement in identifying them and providing programs and services to deal
with them, according to this view.
 In conclusion, the middle of the road approach might see the redirection of
funds to community-based services, the police relinquishing some of its duties
(e.g. dealing with those with mental disorders and addictions), and
community and police working in partnership to prevent/respond to crime.
This lecture is based on the following
sources:
 1. Tchoukleva, Y., A. Beattie, J. Cottle. “Defunding the Police: Brief
Overview of History, Models and the Demands of the Movement”. Equal
Justice Society, June 18,2020.
 2. McCoy, A. “Perspectives on History Defund The Police – Protest Slogans
and the Terms for Debate”. The newsmagazine of the American Historical
Association, Perspectives on History.
 3. Hochman, N. “The Origins of ‘Defund the Police’ – The academic
theories that have given rise to the new movement are dangerously
flawed”. The Dispatch, June 22, 2020.
 4. Perano, U. “Black Lives Matter co-founder explains “Defund the police”
slogan. Axios, Politics & Policy, June 7, 2020.