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Since the police killing of George Floyd in May 2020 and the subsequent mass mobilizations for police defunding and abolition, the defund movement has continued to organize.
Has this work had an impact in Canada? Have there been successful challenges to reducing Canadian police budgets?
The answer is complicated and depends on how you define success.
Raised awareness
Some argue the mobilization and movement-building that has transpired — people brought together in campaigns for police abolition that reimagine community safety — is a huge success in and of itself. Abolition has entered the public consciousness like never before.
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Dozens of books have been published by academics, lawyers and activists, building on the work of Black feminists in the United States and Canada who have long argued police perpetuate rather than reduce violence in our society.
There have been some modest successes in defunding police.
In Edmonton, city council voted to cut the 2022 police budget increase by $10.9 million and reallocate the money to social services.
In Halifax, a subcommittee of the Halifax Board of Police Commissioners has tabled a detailed and carefully researched report to city council on how the local police force could be gradually detasked and defunded.
When one looks further, however, what becomes apparent is a serious and growing counter-campaign. It’s perhaps the strongest indication of the movement’s success at undermining the sanctity of police budgets until now.
A boy holds a sign reading Police Lives Matter
A young boy shows his support for police during a rally in Utah in September 2020. (AP Photo/Rick Bowmer)
Counter-tactics
Police have fought vigorously against the defund movement through threats and false conceits of impending violence if budgets are cut. They are co-opting calls for community safety, branding themselves as protectors in need of continuing or increased resources. They position themselves as innocent heroes under attack, and discredit those who critique them.
Read more - https://theconversation.com/thin-skinned-blue-line-police-fight-against-defunding-showing-their-true-colours-183784