Many police union contracts have policies for what happens when you cut the police budget. They tend to say that officers are laid off in order of seniority, which would preserve the older, whiter cops on the force while firing the others. This policy, too, should be changed.
The cops who are laid off first should be those who have the worst records of misconduct - not those who’ve been around in the toxic police culture for the longest period of time.
Note that over 90% of the police budget is officer salaries, benefits, OT, etc. That’s where the money is going. And so any substantial cuts to the budget would reduce the size of the police force, which is a good thing.
Don’t let the city play you by cutting the budget and still keeping officers with the longest track records of police violence on the force. The details of police union contracts and force reduction plans are important to pay attention to, they structure the process of defunding.
Police budgets absolutely must be cut and it must happen immediately. And the contracts have to be renegotiated or cancelled. *And* the use of force policies of the police dept have to be strengthened as a harm reduction strategy for as long as police still have $1 to their name.
*not those who’ve been around for the least amount of time. You get the point.
