Public Comment

The police receive the largest percentage of the Berkeley City Budget. In 2020, $70,622,557 of the city budget has been dedicated to the Police Department—compare that to $36,019,089 for the next leading Fire Department, not to mention a comparatively frugal $17,553,283 for Health, Housing & Community Services.

One systemic solution to police violence is to divert funding from police to programs which directly address the socioeconomic conditions which drive crime in the first place. Better public services in the areas of education, mental health services, and employment will naturally foster the type of “safe” communities that we currently overfund militarized police to protect. 

The current structure of policing in America has only served to take, rather than protect, Black lives. Even after the implementation of reform methods such as body cameras and sensitivity training after Michael Brown’s death in Ferguson in 2014, we keep witnessing horrific incidents of police brutality. 

Perhaps the failure of reform methods should not be a surprise, as modern police departments originated as Slave Patrols. Let the untimely, unjust murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and countless others be a wake-up call for America to stop perpetuating the injustices it was built on. This is my call for one city, and any others that may follow it, to take the first step.