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From: Yoshi Shikuma <br />To: PublicComment; GRP -City Council; Council -Diane Howard; Council -Shelly Masur; Council -Alicia Aguirre; Council - <br />Ian Bain; Council -Janet Borgens; Council-Giselle Hale; Council -Diana Reddy <br />Subject: Item 9.A: Redwood City Resident for Defunding the RCPD <br />Date: Monday, June 22, 2020 3:01:48 PM <br />Dear City Council, <br />My name is Kiyoshi Shikuma and I am a resident of Redwood City. I urge you to <br />reject the proposed budget because it allocates $49M toward an outdated and <br />punitive policing system that makes many residents feel unsafe. Instead, in the name <br />of public safety, I ask that you defund the police and reallocate their funds into <br />programs that prevent crime such as affordable housing, community services and <br />non -police response teams. <br />Though it may seem counterintuitive, many residents in our city do not feel safer with a large <br />police presence. This follows a long local and national history of unequal treatment of <br />residents by the police - with respect to which neighborhoods they patrol, which crimes they <br />enforce, and against whom and how severely they use force. In particular, many people of <br />color, people experiencing homelessness, and people struggling with mental illness do not feel <br />safe around police. <br />Redwood City has increased its funds for police by 79% since 2010 (source). Moreover, <br />Redwood City allocates a higher portion of its general fund to police than most of its peers - <br />including Mountain View, Milpitas, Santa Clara, South San Francisco, and Palo Alto (source). <br />I urge you to reverse these trends for the safety of our residents. <br />I want a city that is safe for everyone. That is why I urge you to defund the police and <br />divert their funds into services that prevent crime. We cannot wait to take meaningful <br />action until October: how many more people will be arrested, harassed, or killed by <br />the police by then? The future of public safety is a future of prevention, by community <br />services and unarmed specialists, rather than punishment backed by armed force and <br />incarceration. I implore you, for our sake, to reorient our city to this future. <br />Thank you for your time, <br />Kiyoshi Shikuma <br />1045 Taft St Redwood City, CA 94061 <br />y0sh33 angmail.com <br />206-919-1257 <br />