What Do We Mean by #Defund2Refund?
Communities United's Defund to Refund Campaign is nothing new.
Here is an opinion piece from the Co-Chair of our Board of Directors, Rochell Barksdale
BPD’s Bloated Budget Leads to Baltimore's Violence
Defund Police to Refund Our Kids
As the “mom on call” in and around McCulloh Homes for over 13 years, my door is the one kids knock on when they’re in trouble or hurting. Some of the little kids who came to my kitchen are old enough to be getting college scholarships now. So many are still hurting. The toll violence and addiction takes in my community have gotten so heavy.
I’ve watched our youth’s entire public lives get defunded. My son’s favorite rec centers get shuttered and staff tell me they have no money for programs. People may say more money for the police is for my safety. Yet more money gets spent and I do not feel safe. After-school programs, sports, art, science and other educational programs get defunded. It makes no sense.
I have personally watched police officers ignore problems. I’ve seen drugs sold out in the open on Pennsylvania Avenue while six officers hang out and laugh at the corner. A young man was shot in Upton/Druid Heights a few months back while the police were sitting right there. They don’t keep the bad things from happening.
Now Mayor Scott is proposing yet another increase - $5 million more - to the Baltimore Police Department’s budget.
Over the past 40 years, the police budget has exploded by 173%, while the population has dropped 38%. While the rest of city services are underfunded, BPD has been promised a three-year increase. In the FY23 preliminary budget, each dollar for cops means only 61 cents to public schools, 15 cents to housing, 12 cents to homeless services, and a single cent to “substance use disorder and mental health.”
BPD gets new uniforms and a $13 million fleet of SUVs. What do our kids get? Proof everyday that their lives do not matter because if they did they would have coaches, counselors and mentors. Instead they see punishment and handcuffs for them, and police ignoring out-in-the-open problems right outside of their doors.
People’s basic needs aren’t met. Some parents can’t get help and become addicted trying to cope. Their kids come knocking on my door. There is a sense of helplessness where people need to rob and steal just to get by and stay busy robbing and stealing from each other. What we need is to be safe from both crime and criminalization. Both of these things scar the entire family, neighborhood, and community.
Real public safety has to be built by the community, in the community. As chairman of the board of Communities United, I work with others to resist what’s been forced on my community. Because there’s no individual solution. No amount of arrests or new officers will solve this crisis. We are fighting for our kids. They need mental health support, addiction relief, good schools and job training, grocery stores, and places where they can just play and be safe.
Baltimore spends more per resident on police than the 72 largest cities in the country. Reinvestment of 25% of the BPD’s budget would radically transform our schools, affordable housing, homeless resources, and youth programming. And we would still have one of the most expensive forces in the country.
We need the City Council to hold Mayor Scott to the promises he’s made since he was City Council president. I remember that he led the charge to cut the bloated police budget. Instead of a 5-year plan to reinvest police budgeting, we got a 3-year plan to inflate it even more. The task force we were promised still does not exist.
Members of the City Council, please tell Mayor Scott “no”. Tell him that all Baltimoreans: if you want a future for our children—we must all build it together. The police can’t make this happen by force.
Every child who comes to my door deserves moments of youthful joy to share with me, not just neglect and disregard. I know from raising my 12-year old son that kids need time. They need attention and love. And they need to come first.
Let’s give them the Baltimore they deserve.
Rochell Barksdale
Communities United
Board of Directors
Co-Chair
I’ve watched our youth’s entire public lives get defunded. My son’s favorite rec centers get shuttered and staff tell me they have no money for programs. People may say more money for the police is for my safety. Yet more money gets spent and I do not feel safe. After-school programs, sports, art, science and other educational programs get defunded. It makes no sense.
I have personally watched police officers ignore problems. I’ve seen drugs sold out in the open on Pennsylvania Avenue while six officers hang out and laugh at the corner. A young man was shot in Upton/Druid Heights a few months back while the police were sitting right there. They don’t keep the bad things from happening.
Now Mayor Scott is proposing yet another increase - $5 million more - to the Baltimore Police Department’s budget.
Over the past 40 years, the police budget has exploded by 173%, while the population has dropped 38%. While the rest of city services are underfunded, BPD has been promised a three-year increase. In the FY23 preliminary budget, each dollar for cops means only 61 cents to public schools, 15 cents to housing, 12 cents to homeless services, and a single cent to “substance use disorder and mental health.”
BPD gets new uniforms and a $13 million fleet of SUVs. What do our kids get? Proof everyday that their lives do not matter because if they did they would have coaches, counselors and mentors. Instead they see punishment and handcuffs for them, and police ignoring out-in-the-open problems right outside of their doors.
People’s basic needs aren’t met. Some parents can’t get help and become addicted trying to cope. Their kids come knocking on my door. There is a sense of helplessness where people need to rob and steal just to get by and stay busy robbing and stealing from each other. What we need is to be safe from both crime and criminalization. Both of these things scar the entire family, neighborhood, and community.
Real public safety has to be built by the community, in the community. As chairman of the board of Communities United, I work with others to resist what’s been forced on my community. Because there’s no individual solution. No amount of arrests or new officers will solve this crisis. We are fighting for our kids. They need mental health support, addiction relief, good schools and job training, grocery stores, and places where they can just play and be safe.
Baltimore spends more per resident on police than the 72 largest cities in the country. Reinvestment of 25% of the BPD’s budget would radically transform our schools, affordable housing, homeless resources, and youth programming. And we would still have one of the most expensive forces in the country.
We need the City Council to hold Mayor Scott to the promises he’s made since he was City Council president. I remember that he led the charge to cut the bloated police budget. Instead of a 5-year plan to reinvest police budgeting, we got a 3-year plan to inflate it even more. The task force we were promised still does not exist.
Members of the City Council, please tell Mayor Scott “no”. Tell him that all Baltimoreans: if you want a future for our children—we must all build it together. The police can’t make this happen by force.
Every child who comes to my door deserves moments of youthful joy to share with me, not just neglect and disregard. I know from raising my 12-year old son that kids need time. They need attention and love. And they need to come first.
Let’s give them the Baltimore they deserve.
Rochell Barksdale
Communities United
Board of Directors
Co-Chair
The Urgency and Scope of Defunding Baltimore’s Police
to Refund the City’s Long Neglected Communities
Prepared by the Center for Popular Democracy and Communities United
Background
In 2020, thousands of Baltimore residents took to the streets, joining the national call to divest from the police and reinvest in Black and Brown communities that have faced longstanding systemic divestment. Our demands included long sought, meaningful solutions for Black and Brown communities that realize real community safety, such as housing, mental health supports, and funding for education--not police and jails.
In Baltimore, like in localities across the country, the city has continued to allocate resources to the Police Department and Sheriff’s Department while underinvesting in public schools, affordable housing, jobs programs, and health resources. The city continues to over-invest in police despite the lack of evidence that policing leads to public safety. Study after study shows that a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity, and stable housing are far more successful in reducing crime than police or prisons.
The Problem
The Baltimore Police Department’s budget has continuously grown over the past several decades and now receives an outsized share of the general fund (the most flexible, discretionary fund in the city budget):
Outsized Spending on the Police and Sheriff’s Departments Compared to Spending on Substance Use and Mental Health
Our Solution
We call on the city to divest at least 25 percent from the city’s current police department budget and reinvest these funds in solutions that are proven to support real community health and safety.
Why 25 percent?
Defunding the police by 25 percent would:
Background
In 2020, thousands of Baltimore residents took to the streets, joining the national call to divest from the police and reinvest in Black and Brown communities that have faced longstanding systemic divestment. Our demands included long sought, meaningful solutions for Black and Brown communities that realize real community safety, such as housing, mental health supports, and funding for education--not police and jails.
In Baltimore, like in localities across the country, the city has continued to allocate resources to the Police Department and Sheriff’s Department while underinvesting in public schools, affordable housing, jobs programs, and health resources. The city continues to over-invest in police despite the lack of evidence that policing leads to public safety. Study after study shows that a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity, and stable housing are far more successful in reducing crime than police or prisons.
The Problem
The Baltimore Police Department’s budget has continuously grown over the past several decades and now receives an outsized share of the general fund (the most flexible, discretionary fund in the city budget):
- Even when adjusting for inflation, spending on police increased 173 percent between 1965 and 2005, accounting for a larger share of the city budget over time. And funding for the police has continued to grow in subsequent years. Meanwhile, the city’s population decreased 32 percent, from 939,024 in 1960 to 640,064 in 2005 to 585,708 in 2020.
- By FY2020, per capita spending on the Police Department reached $840 per resident-- exceeding per capita spending on police in the 72 biggest cities in the US.
- The BPD has consistently received an outsized percentage of the city’s general fund (26% in the FY23 preliminary budget), compared to community investment priorities, such as funding for public schools (17%), housing and community development (2%), recreation and parks (2%) and the Office of Homeless Services (1%), substance abuse and mental health (0.1%).
- In the FY23 preliminary budget, for every dollar spent on the Police Department, the city allocates 61 cents to Baltimore City Public Schools, 15 cents to Housing and Community Development, 12 cents to the Office of Homeless Services, 11 cents to Parks and Recreation, and one cent to “Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health” (within the Health Department).
Outsized Spending on the Police and Sheriff’s Departments Compared to Spending on Substance Use and Mental Health
- 964 people died of opioid-related deaths in Baltimore in 2020. There were 338 homicides in Baltimore in 2021--just over a third of the number of opioid deaths. But the Police and Department still received outsized funding compared to the Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health program in the FY23 preliminary budget ($1.00 for every $.01, respectively).
Our Solution
We call on the city to divest at least 25 percent from the city’s current police department budget and reinvest these funds in solutions that are proven to support real community health and safety.
Why 25 percent?
Defunding the police by 25 percent would:
- Bring Baltimore police spending in line with the cost per capita of other city police forces. We will still have one of the most expensive department’s per resident.
- Help Baltimore meet its required match in school funding - a $161.5 million increase by 2030 - to receive a $585 million increase from the state.
- Free up resources for investments in affordable housing and housing the homeless, workforce development and resources to support returning citizens, job programs to employ, rebuild and serve communities, programming for youth in recreation centers across the city, and more. A police officer is not the right answer to every 911 call. They aren’t even the right answer to most of them.
Skip below form for more information on the campaign.
We believe:
Background
In the summer of 2020, thousands in Baltimore City turned out to participate in the youth-led protest against police violence in Baltimore alone. It was one of the largest, most peaceful rallies in the city's history. The "two cities of Baltimore" that many have commented on results from long term systemic divestment. We have been demanding the meaningful solutions our communities need and deserve since our inception. We have been demanding investments that actually lead to greater safety: investments in housing, mental health support, and funding for education instead of police and jails.
And yet, Baltimore keeps spending more - both in and on the Police Department and Sheriff’s Department than comparable other cities, and every year more than the last! And yet, there is some how not enough money for quality public schools, affordable housing, long-term jobs programs, or health resources. The city continues to overinvest in police even though policing hasn’t led to public safety, yet! There have been many studies showing that a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity, and stable housing are better at cutting crime and both less expensive and less destructive than police or prisons.
Communities United has always focused our conversations about Baltimore's budget on what is missing in our communities. We stand with Baltimore City Public Schools, supported funding community schools at both the state and the local level. We believe that community members who have served time for crimes need the freedom to vote - as well as other supports and freedoms - in order to integrate successfully into life outside of prison. We stand with Erikka Bridgeford and the Baltimore Ceasefire Movement to envision different options to achieve peace and safety in our neighborhoods. We talked, argued and resolved that the #DefundThePolice language was not - by itself - the message that fits to our values. We align ourselves with organizations, locally, in Maryland and nationally for whom that IS the call.
The Problem
The Baltimore Police Department’s budget keeps growing. It grows both in dollar amounts, and in the amount of the budget spent. For decades policing has taken an outsized share of the general fund (the most flexible money in the city budget):
Note: Calculations are based on the total program or departmental allocation (not just the general fund).
Outsized Spending on the Police and Sheriff’s Departments Compared to Spending on Substance Use and Mental Health
The Demand
We call on the city to divest at least 25 percent from the city’s current police department budget and reinvest these funds in solutions that are proven to support real community health and safety.
Defunding the police by 25 percent would:
Our message is simple:
In 2019 although our Better Budget Baltimore Initiative was not included on the ballot, our popular education campaign changed the conversation about the budgeting process in Baltimore City. The initiative we wrote served as a template that the City Council used to write the charter amendment that will give them the power to move money in the budget for FY23. We mobilized community members who spoke up at the City Council Taxpayers’ Night demanding cuts to the police budget and redirecting that money to what they need.
Now...
#Defund2Refund is a campaign name and slogan that is meant to recenter, in language, the true purpose of the defund the police movement in Baltimore City. Whereas, activists are not calling for casual cuts, but a moral realignment of municipal budgetary priorities that reinforce the value of communities that have been historically and economically devalued. The former can be stated as, “we must defund the bloated police force to refund black and brown people, their institutions, and their communities”.
What does this mean in Baltimore?
Baltimore’s history of devaluing Black communities is both extensive and well-documented. By not investing public dollars and resources in our schools, community anchors, and institutions our city government has made it clear that Black upward mobility is not their priority. Though our population has decreased by 32% or nearly 400,000 residents since 1960, the police budget has increased and continues to do so. This has made Baltimore the nation’s leader in police over-funding while also being one of the Blackest cities in the country.
What does Refund mean?
Baltimore did not always have an over-boated police department while underfunding priorities in all other areas. Many older Baltimore residents can remember a time when schools, community centers, recreation centers, and other municipal programs were well funded. As time progressed, and Baltimore became less white and more Black all other agencies saw their budgets decrease, while the police budget has consistently increased. We are asking for the police department to be right-sized, so we can refund our communities and the people in them, as the city did when Baltimore was majority white.
Talking Points:
Referencing Race:
911 Data:
Responsible Spending:
(Adjusting for inflation means to determine the value or cost of something in the sense of today’s economy as the dollar loses value. For example, In 1939, the film Gone With The Wind made 390 million dollars at the box office, if we adjust for inflation to determine what it would have made in today’s economy the figure would be closer to 3 billion. In other words, do you remember what a quarter could buy you in 1970? Maybe chips, a soda, hard candy, and gum. Well, if we adjust for inflation that cos ttoday would be around $4.00)
(The general fund is made of dollars that come from the city’s revenue from property taxes.)
Our message:
- The city’s spending should reflect the values and needs of Baltimore's communities. Black communities need stronger schools, better city services, and other resources, not over policing or a lack of resources due to police over-spending.
- We want a moral budget, not one that comes from political posturing.
- Policing reform is welcome, and is not an argument against #defund2refund- we need both!
- A 25% reduction in police spending will ‘rightsize’ our police spending and bring Baltimore in line with the next most expensive police departments nationwide.
Background
In the summer of 2020, thousands in Baltimore City turned out to participate in the youth-led protest against police violence in Baltimore alone. It was one of the largest, most peaceful rallies in the city's history. The "two cities of Baltimore" that many have commented on results from long term systemic divestment. We have been demanding the meaningful solutions our communities need and deserve since our inception. We have been demanding investments that actually lead to greater safety: investments in housing, mental health support, and funding for education instead of police and jails.
And yet, Baltimore keeps spending more - both in and on the Police Department and Sheriff’s Department than comparable other cities, and every year more than the last! And yet, there is some how not enough money for quality public schools, affordable housing, long-term jobs programs, or health resources. The city continues to overinvest in police even though policing hasn’t led to public safety, yet! There have been many studies showing that a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity, and stable housing are better at cutting crime and both less expensive and less destructive than police or prisons.
Communities United has always focused our conversations about Baltimore's budget on what is missing in our communities. We stand with Baltimore City Public Schools, supported funding community schools at both the state and the local level. We believe that community members who have served time for crimes need the freedom to vote - as well as other supports and freedoms - in order to integrate successfully into life outside of prison. We stand with Erikka Bridgeford and the Baltimore Ceasefire Movement to envision different options to achieve peace and safety in our neighborhoods. We talked, argued and resolved that the #DefundThePolice language was not - by itself - the message that fits to our values. We align ourselves with organizations, locally, in Maryland and nationally for whom that IS the call.
The Problem
The Baltimore Police Department’s budget keeps growing. It grows both in dollar amounts, and in the amount of the budget spent. For decades policing has taken an outsized share of the general fund (the most flexible money in the city budget):
- Even when adjusting for inflation, spending on police increased 173 percent between 1965 and 2005, accounting for a larger share of the city budget over time. Meanwhile, the city’s population is smaller, from 939,024 in 1960 to 640,064 in 2005 to 539,490 in 2019.
- In FY2020, per capita spending on the police department reached an all-time high of $840 per resident-- exceeding per capita spending on police in 72 of the biggest cities in the US. See Vera Institute's tool here.
- The BPD has consistently received an outsized percentage of the city’s general fund (26% in FY2020), compared to community investment priorities, such as funding for public schools (14%), substance abuse and mental health (0.2%), recreation and parks (2%) and the Office of Homeless Services (0.6%).
- In FY20, for every dollar spent on the Police Department, the city allocated 52 cents to Baltimore City Public Schools, 10 cents to Parks and Recreation, 10 cents to the Office of Homeless Services, and one cent to Substance Abuse and Mental Health.
Note: Calculations are based on the total program or departmental allocation (not just the general fund).
Outsized Spending on the Police and Sheriff’s Departments Compared to Spending on Substance Use and Mental Health
- 761 people had drug and alcohol-related deaths in Baltimore in 2017, which is the highest death rate for unintentional drug and alcohol-related deaths in the state.
- There were 335 homicides in Baltimore in 2020, which is less than half the number of those who died from a drug or alcohol overdose based on the most recently available data. But the Police and Sheriff’s Departments still received outsized funding compared to the Substance Use Disorder and Mental Health program in the FY20 budget ($1.00 for every $.01, respectively).
The Demand
We call on the city to divest at least 25 percent from the city’s current police department budget and reinvest these funds in solutions that are proven to support real community health and safety.
Defunding the police by 25 percent would:
- Bring Baltimore police spending in line with the cost per capita of other city police forces.
Our message is simple:
- The city’s spending should reflect the values and needs of the communities we serve. Black communities need stronger schools, better city services, and other resources, not over policing or a lack of resources due to police over-spending.
- We want a moral budget, not one that comes from political posturing.
- Policing reform is welcome, and is not an argument against #defund2refund- we need both!
- A 25% reduction in police spending will ‘rightsize’ our police spending and bring Baltimore in line with the next most expensive police departments nationwide.
In 2019 although our Better Budget Baltimore Initiative was not included on the ballot, our popular education campaign changed the conversation about the budgeting process in Baltimore City. The initiative we wrote served as a template that the City Council used to write the charter amendment that will give them the power to move money in the budget for FY23. We mobilized community members who spoke up at the City Council Taxpayers’ Night demanding cuts to the police budget and redirecting that money to what they need.
Now...
#Defund2Refund is a campaign name and slogan that is meant to recenter, in language, the true purpose of the defund the police movement in Baltimore City. Whereas, activists are not calling for casual cuts, but a moral realignment of municipal budgetary priorities that reinforce the value of communities that have been historically and economically devalued. The former can be stated as, “we must defund the bloated police force to refund black and brown people, their institutions, and their communities”.
What does this mean in Baltimore?
Baltimore’s history of devaluing Black communities is both extensive and well-documented. By not investing public dollars and resources in our schools, community anchors, and institutions our city government has made it clear that Black upward mobility is not their priority. Though our population has decreased by 32% or nearly 400,000 residents since 1960, the police budget has increased and continues to do so. This has made Baltimore the nation’s leader in police over-funding while also being one of the Blackest cities in the country.
What does Refund mean?
Baltimore did not always have an over-boated police department while underfunding priorities in all other areas. Many older Baltimore residents can remember a time when schools, community centers, recreation centers, and other municipal programs were well funded. As time progressed, and Baltimore became less white and more Black all other agencies saw their budgets decrease, while the police budget has consistently increased. We are asking for the police department to be right-sized, so we can refund our communities and the people in them, as the city did when Baltimore was majority white.
Talking Points:
Referencing Race:
- In 1960, Baltimore was 65% white and 35% Black. Police overfunding did not begin until the city became majority Black.
- The city continues to overinvest in police despite the lack of evidence that policing leads to public safety. Study after study shows that a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunity, and stable housing are far more successful in reducing crime than police or prisons.
- The consent decree found that BPD uses strategies that produce unjustified disparities in the rates of arrests of African-Americans. This can be reduced if officers are not brought into situations where they are poorly trained e.g mental health calls.
911 Data:
- 911 data from 2019 shows that 99.5% of calls were not for violent crime, money should be moved for subject matter professionals to respond to certain calls, so police can focus on real police work.
Responsible Spending:
- The consent decree demands Baltimore promotes public safety in a manner that is fiscally responsible and responsive to community priorities, that can only happen if youth, neighborhoods, schools, harm-reduction, and mental health services are properly funded.
- In this budget, per capita spending on the police department reached $965 per resident-- exceeding per capita spending on police in 72 of the biggest cities in the US
- Even when adjusting for inflation, spending on police increased 173 percent between 1965 and 2005, accounting for a larger share of the city budget over time. And funding for the police has continued to grow in subsequent years. Meanwhile, the city’s population decreased 32 percent, from 939,024 in 1960 to 593,490 in 2019.
(Adjusting for inflation means to determine the value or cost of something in the sense of today’s economy as the dollar loses value. For example, In 1939, the film Gone With The Wind made 390 million dollars at the box office, if we adjust for inflation to determine what it would have made in today’s economy the figure would be closer to 3 billion. In other words, do you remember what a quarter could buy you in 1970? Maybe chips, a soda, hard candy, and gum. Well, if we adjust for inflation that cos ttoday would be around $4.00)
- The BPD has consistently received an outsized percentage of the city’s general fund. In fact, in this budget the police receive 26%, a plurality of the budget. Compared to community investment priorities, such as funding for public schools (14%), housing and development (2%), substance abuse and mental health (0.1%), recreation and parks (2%) and the Office of Homeless Services (1%).
(The general fund is made of dollars that come from the city’s revenue from property taxes.)
Our message:
- The city’s spending should reflect the values and needs of the communities we serve. Black communities need stronger schools, better city services, and other resources, not over policing or a lack of resources due to police over-spending.
- We want a moral budget, not one that comes from political posturing.
- Policing reform is welcome, and is not an argument against #defund2refund- we need both!
- A 25% reduction in police spending will ‘rightsize’ our police spending and bring Baltimore in line with the next most expensive police departments nationwide.
