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The choice to maneuver extra federal aid cash towards the division was not correctly publicized, in accordance with James Burch, coverage director on the Anti Police-Terror Undertaking, an advocacy group in Oakland.
“Buried within the quarter three finance report in some obscure desk is only one line that claims $87.1 million to the Oakland Police Division. And so clearly, that’s very regarding,” Burch instructed Prism (the identical report reveals that the OPD is the one metropolis company receiving cash from its ARPA funds this yr).
There had not been any public hearings to deliberate on the town’s COVID-19 aid spending plans, and the Oakland Metropolis Council appeared unaware of the choice to allocate that quantity of COVID-19 aid funds towards police, Burch stated.
Based on an April report by The Guardian, different cities in California have additionally allotted massive sums of COVID-19 federal aid cash towards police departments, with at the least two cities—Los Angeles and Fresno—dedicating greater than 50% of their federal aid cash to their police forces.
Nevertheless it’s not simply taking place on the west coast. In Chicago, metropolis council members final yr have been caught unaware that the town had allotted $281 million from its CARES funding to the Chicago Police Division, making up 60% of the $470 million in discretionary spending the town acquired from the federal authorities, as a part of the aid funds.
Equally, in New York Metropolis, roughly $566 million of the town’s $3.73 billion in ARPA funds for the fiscal yr 2022 had gone towards its police division, which already has the most important finances within the nation. That $566 million is greater than the quantity devoted to the Division of Social Providers, Division of Homeless Providers, and the Division of Youth and Neighborhood Growth mixed, based mostly on knowledge from the Metropolis Comptroller’s COVID-19 Federal Stimulus Fund Tracker. The Comptroller’s Workplace additionally tracks the spending of funding given to completely different businesses, however had no knowledge displayed for spending by the police division and couldn’t produce particulars when contacted for remark. One other public entity, the NYC Impartial Funds Workplace, experiences on their tracker solely that $566 million was budgeted for “police staffing prices.”
Different U.S. cities, like Albuquerque and Tucson, are additionally spending smaller quantities of COVID-19 aid funds to help policing.
You will need to be aware, nonetheless, that these investments of federal aid cash in regulation enforcement throughout the nation didn’t occur in a vacuum. Since final yr, Biden has repeatedly urged metropolis and state officers to make use of federal COVID-19 aid funds for coaching, gear purchases, and different regulation enforcement-related spending as a part of the president’s so-called crime prevention technique. Underneath the initiative, roughly $350 billion from the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan aid package deal is predicted for use to bolster regulation enforcement nationwide.
“To each governor, each mayor, each county official, the necessity is obvious, my message is obvious: Spend this cash now; use these funds we made out there to you; prioritize public security,” Biden stated at a White Home occasion with mayors and regulation enforcement officers in Could. “Do it shortly earlier than the summer time, when crime charges sometimes surge.”
Biden’s requires native officers to make use of pandemic aid funds for conventional policing techniques sparked criticism from anti-policing advocates. Karissa Lewis, the nationwide area director of the Motion for Black Lives, known as Biden’s requests a “slap within the face” to the hundreds of thousands of voters from communities of coloration and different underrepresented backgrounds who had voted in his administration in hopes of seeing extra public care investments.
“That is partly Biden’s mandate,” stated Burch of APTP, referring to native governments investing COVID-19 funds towards police. “He not solely allowed for this cash to be spent on regulation enforcement, he’s inspired it at sure occasions when it gave the impression to be politically advantageous for him to take that place. That’s not misplaced upon us.”
Elevated policing isn’t the one funding unrelated to pandemic restoration that some cities and states have made utilizing federal aid funds. In March, the Related Press recognized a few dozen initiatives and different expenditures circuitously associated to public well being and companies that have been funded utilizing pandemic aid cash. These included $12 million for sports activities stadium upgrades in Dutchess County, New York; $6.6 million to exchange golf course irrigation methods in Colorado Springs; $5 million to repay debt owed by the Edward M. Kennedy Institute in Boston; and $8 million towards a tourism advertising marketing campaign for the town of D.C.
A whole lot of all these COVID-19 aid spending, the report famous, have been potential as a result of lax guidelines set by the U.S. Treasury Division over how native officers might use the COVID-19 federal funds. Whereas the versatile pointers have been established to permit localities quick access to the pandemic funds and higher freedoms in deciding how finest to commit them, it might have opened the door for lawful misallocation of these funds, too.
“Counties ought to be capable of decide what’s finest for them,” Mark Ritacco, director of presidency affairs for the Nationwide Affiliation of Counties, instructed the AP. “Their residents will resolve whether or not that was acceptable or not on the poll field.”
Natasha Ishak is a New York Metropolis-based journalist who covers politics, public coverage, and social justice points. Her work has been printed by VICE, Fortune, Mic, The Nation, and Harvard’s Nieman Lab amongst different locations. Observe her on Twitter @npishak.
Prism is an unbiased and nonprofit newsroom led by journalists of coloration. Our in-depth and thought-provoking journalism displays the lived experiences of individuals most impacted by injustice. We inform tales from the bottom as much as disrupt dangerous narratives, and to tell actions for justice. Join our e-newsletter to get our tales in your inbox, and comply with us on Twitter, Fb, and Instagram.
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