Don’t do it !
City Admins can, of course, at any time, choose to ‘carve out” and transfer services from one department to another. They need to be careful what they wish for.
The Eugene, Oregon “Cahoots” initiative worked/is working for a city with a population of 170,000. The demographics for Eugene may or may not be the same as for other smaller cities. The demographics for cities like NY and LA will definitely not be the same as for Eugene.
Police Departments should actively resist arbitrary $$$ reductions to their funding if, as, and when services are being changed/removed. There are ways and means of evaluating risks and implications of proposed carveouts and ways and means of costing out services involved in such carveouts. Start with the PD Policy and Directives manual and assign budgeted $$$ to each major Section.
The likely end game of defunding, if this goes ahead, will be dispatch of a uniformed officer and social worker/behavioral healthcare professional. Not safe! A seemingly low violence-risk incident can turn deadly to victims, citizens, subjects and responders in seconds.
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