CityLab Daily: The Cities Taking Up Calls to Defund Police
Also today: What it means to be a black journalist in Pittsburgh, and how “Safe Streets” aren’t safe for black lives.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey is confronted at a demonstration about whether he will fully defund the police. When he says no, he is asked to leave the protest.
Stephen Maturen/Getty Images
Big promises: Following weeks of nationwide protest, lawmakers in more than a dozen cities are heeding calls to defund the police with reform proposals that reduce police resources. None have gone so far as Minneapolis, where the killing of George Floyd triggered the uprising. The city council announced on June 7 that it would disband the current police department entirely, while the parks department, public school system and some local museums have already severed ties with it. Elsewhere, lawmakers have pledged to partially divest by reducing police budgets and staff sizes, and shrinking their arsenals of military weapons.
Some lawmakers have yet to lay out concrete plans, and many are likely to face considerable obstacles. Some reformers remain skeptical that the lofty promises being made right now will turn into action later. Still, such proposals indicate that some politicians are finally starting to acknowledge systemic flaws in American policing. Today on CityLab, Sarah Holder looks at the cities taking up calls to defund the police.