10 20-0477 Subject: Budget Directives For FY 20-21
From: President Pro Tempore Kalb And Councilmember Bas
Recommendation: Adopt A FY20-21 Budget Directive As Follows: City Council Directs The City Administrator To Immediately Undertake A Thorough Review Of 911 And Non-Emergency Police Calls For Service To Determine The Categories And Relative Volume Of Such Calls And To Evaluate Various Alternate Responder Models, Including Those That Include Mental Health Professionals, As Well As Evaluating The Potential For Creating A Civilian Traffic Unit For Most Moving Violations Or Using Technology For Traffic Enforcement, And Other Alternate Responder Opportunities That Would Be More Appropriate To The Nature Of The Service Requests, And To Review Other Strategies To Reduce Or Re-Direct 911 Call Volumes, With The Report Including Possible Action Items And FY21-23 Budget Recommendations Presented To The Council No Later Than October 30, 2020, And With The Police Commission Being Consulted On Such Analysis Prior To Presentation To City Council
I am a resident of District 3. This measure does not go nearly far enough. I support defunding the police by ~$150 million and distributing these funds to schools, housing, mental health resources, services for responding to non-violent disturbances, and other social services. The police are clearly not qualified to respond and de-escalate certain situations, and the violent crackdown on peaceful protestors across the country (including in Oakland in late May) is further evidence of this.
I am a reside of District 3 and I would like to see the city dramatically decrease the funding to our police department and re-distribute those funds to other services that are more adequately suited to supporting and serving our communities. Even without the egregious violence our police departments display, I would be calling for a more equitable distribution of funds. Like many of my fellow public commentators, I would like to see this measure go even further in its defunding of our local police hence my neutral position on this specifically.
I am a resident of District 6. I am in strong support of enabling greater civilian response and shifting funding away from the Oakland Police Department in order to fund such initiatives. However, I further ask that OPD be defunded by 50% (at least $150 million) to free up these funds to further benefit the community by reallocating to education, healthcare, housing, and jobs development.
I'm a resident of District 1, and while I support this measure it doesn't go nearly far enough. Defunding OPD by 50% should be a bare minimum starting point, on the path to eventual complete abolition of the police. The obscene amount of taxpayer money that currently goes to OPD will serve our community so much more effectively in the form of health, mental health, housing, and education services. I implore the entire council to not only support this measure, but commit to even an more substantial redirection of funds as soon as possible.
I'm a resident of district three (3), and I'm writing to ask that the city dramatically reduce the budget for the police and reroute those funds to other city organizations that need the money. Dramatic reduction looks like a material cut in the current budget (at least %25) Additionally, there should be a path to further reductions. I believe that this is best summed up by the Jacobin points, below:
"Many of the conflict resolution functions currently performed by police officers can be transferred to counselors, social workers, and other public employees whose job descriptions don’t involve the use of violence. In order to do that, those departments need to be funded, and what better place to reallocate those resources from the police, who are critically overfunded. There’s no reason that the cops need to be called because a homeless woman passed out in a hotel lobby or a mentally ill man is having an episode. Slashing the budgets of police departments and boosting the budgets of other services could result in far fewer situations ending in violence."
I look forward to voting for people who uphold these values, and voting out those who do not.
I'm a resident of district 1, and would like to express my support for this proposal, although I believe the list of outcomes and alternative necessary services should be expanded further in a concerted review with all relevant local organizations, both governmental and community based. I fully supporting a defunding of OPD's budget by 50% at a minimum in order to properly fund this review and the development of better alternatives to the current sad state of policing in Oakland. If we are to truly respect such a proposal and the wide public support for placing money in communities, not in gangs of violent police officers, than a sufficient amount of funding must be allocated to supporting the success of this important work. There is certainly a lack of substantiated justifications or evidence of community support for current amount of funding allocated to policing.
I'm a District 1 resident and I highly support defunding OPD's budget by 50%. Police should never have been tasked with responding to mental health crises and non-violent situations such as traffic violations. Instead, the money should go to funding alternative groups that are better equipped to handle and de-escalate these situations. Additionally, that money should go to funding social services like public housing and schools that would actually serve to reduce the amount of crime in the first place in a way that a militarized police force could never do. Defund the police to increase public safety.
Thank you for proposing this positive action. Is it possible that this review can be conducted by an independent agency, in the name of transparency? Is there a possibility for collaboration between other Bay Area cities that may be undergoing similar reviews, in order to share knowledge and resources? Implementation of new models will likely require cooperation with neighbouring cities, given the area's density and residents generally continuous mobility throughout the area. Thank you for your consideration.
I am a District 2 resident and homeowner and strongly support strong proposals to redirect existing OPD budget to non-violent community services. Oakland spends a higher percentage on police than any other city, while our social services - education, mental health, support for our houseless neighbors, etc. - are disgustingly underfunded. This is unacceptable and MUST change ASAP. To do any less puts our community - especially Black, Indigenous and other people of color - in grave danger from police violence and the ravages of the carceral system and ignores the actual effectiveness life-supporting responses to issues like mental health crises, houselessness, etc. (compared to ineffectiveness of police response).
Hi, my name is Olivia. I'm a resident of district 1. All the strategies listed in agenda item 11 will require a significant amount of funding to execute on in any meaningful, sustained way. I'm urging you to defund OPD by 50%, in order to free up money for these services.
I am a resident of District 3. This measure does not go nearly far enough. I support defunding the police by ~$150 million and distributing these funds to schools, housing, mental health resources, services for responding to non-violent disturbances, and other social services. The police are clearly not qualified to respond and de-escalate certain situations, and the violent crackdown on peaceful protestors across the country (including in Oakland in late May) is further evidence of this.
I am a reside of District 3 and I would like to see the city dramatically decrease the funding to our police department and re-distribute those funds to other services that are more adequately suited to supporting and serving our communities. Even without the egregious violence our police departments display, I would be calling for a more equitable distribution of funds. Like many of my fellow public commentators, I would like to see this measure go even further in its defunding of our local police hence my neutral position on this specifically.
I am a resident of District 6. I am in strong support of enabling greater civilian response and shifting funding away from the Oakland Police Department in order to fund such initiatives. However, I further ask that OPD be defunded by 50% (at least $150 million) to free up these funds to further benefit the community by reallocating to education, healthcare, housing, and jobs development.
I'm a resident of District 1, and while I support this measure it doesn't go nearly far enough. Defunding OPD by 50% should be a bare minimum starting point, on the path to eventual complete abolition of the police. The obscene amount of taxpayer money that currently goes to OPD will serve our community so much more effectively in the form of health, mental health, housing, and education services. I implore the entire council to not only support this measure, but commit to even an more substantial redirection of funds as soon as possible.
I'm a resident of district three (3), and I'm writing to ask that the city dramatically reduce the budget for the police and reroute those funds to other city organizations that need the money. Dramatic reduction looks like a material cut in the current budget (at least %25) Additionally, there should be a path to further reductions. I believe that this is best summed up by the Jacobin points, below:
"Many of the conflict resolution functions currently performed by police officers can be transferred to counselors, social workers, and other public employees whose job descriptions don’t involve the use of violence. In order to do that, those departments need to be funded, and what better place to reallocate those resources from the police, who are critically overfunded. There’s no reason that the cops need to be called because a homeless woman passed out in a hotel lobby or a mentally ill man is having an episode. Slashing the budgets of police departments and boosting the budgets of other services could result in far fewer situations ending in violence."
I look forward to voting for people who uphold these values, and voting out those who do not.
Thanks!
I'm a resident of district 1, and would like to express my support for this proposal, although I believe the list of outcomes and alternative necessary services should be expanded further in a concerted review with all relevant local organizations, both governmental and community based. I fully supporting a defunding of OPD's budget by 50% at a minimum in order to properly fund this review and the development of better alternatives to the current sad state of policing in Oakland. If we are to truly respect such a proposal and the wide public support for placing money in communities, not in gangs of violent police officers, than a sufficient amount of funding must be allocated to supporting the success of this important work. There is certainly a lack of substantiated justifications or evidence of community support for current amount of funding allocated to policing.
I'm a District 1 resident and I highly support defunding OPD's budget by 50%. Police should never have been tasked with responding to mental health crises and non-violent situations such as traffic violations. Instead, the money should go to funding alternative groups that are better equipped to handle and de-escalate these situations. Additionally, that money should go to funding social services like public housing and schools that would actually serve to reduce the amount of crime in the first place in a way that a militarized police force could never do. Defund the police to increase public safety.
Thank you for proposing this positive action. Is it possible that this review can be conducted by an independent agency, in the name of transparency? Is there a possibility for collaboration between other Bay Area cities that may be undergoing similar reviews, in order to share knowledge and resources? Implementation of new models will likely require cooperation with neighbouring cities, given the area's density and residents generally continuous mobility throughout the area. Thank you for your consideration.
I am a District 2 resident and homeowner and strongly support strong proposals to redirect existing OPD budget to non-violent community services. Oakland spends a higher percentage on police than any other city, while our social services - education, mental health, support for our houseless neighbors, etc. - are disgustingly underfunded. This is unacceptable and MUST change ASAP. To do any less puts our community - especially Black, Indigenous and other people of color - in grave danger from police violence and the ravages of the carceral system and ignores the actual effectiveness life-supporting responses to issues like mental health crises, houselessness, etc. (compared to ineffectiveness of police response).
Hi, my name is Olivia. I'm a resident of district 1. All the strategies listed in agenda item 11 will require a significant amount of funding to execute on in any meaningful, sustained way. I'm urging you to defund OPD by 50%, in order to free up money for these services.