This seems like an overstatement. There are no provisions in the decree that require particular levels of funding. And the decree calls for an assessment of BPD mental health responses & commands that BPD “establish a policy for least police-involved response” to crises.
He may be conflating “abolish” with “defunding” and may not have a clear sense of how aspects of defunding proposals may be quite consistent w/elements of the decree. Yes the City is bound to pay for the training & reforms reqd by the decree, but that leaves a lot of room.
The decree does not mandate the size of the force. Nor does it cover school police (and there is an active & important effort by activists to change state law to remove police from schools in Maryland as part of the “defund” movement).
The provisions related to BPD interaction w/youth - which emphasizes increased reliance on counseling & community-based orgs (see paragraphs 218-221 of the decree) - appear to invite the kind of reallocation & reform that defund activists have advocated. justice.gov/opa/file/92505…
The decree focuses on training, conduct, procedures, practices & data collection-all critical reforms whatever the size of the force & scope of duties. But it does forbid a reassessment of primary responsibility for certain interactions w/the public to other community resources.
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