AgdaPkt 2020-06-22 Joint SA PFA - Laserfiche WebLink

Browse Search

From: Jared Charles Nesvet To: PublicComment Subject: Public comment on Agenda #9a proposed fiscal budget - defund the police Date: Sunday, June 21, 2020 8:17:47 PM Dear City Council, My name is Jared and I have been a resident of Redwood City for 4 years now. I was extremely heartened listening in on the previous city council meeting, with maybe over 40 comments calling to defund the police. But to be honest, I was more disheartened with this council's response. All I heard was that you were excited to have more engagement, to start a conversation, and are hopeful for the next generation. This movement isn't meant to inspire you, it's wrought out of the desperation of people of color who need immediate action to save lives. Now a lot of city council members said they couldn't get behind a "defund the police" movement because they didn't understand what it meant. I hope that in the past few weeks, you've done your research, but just in case I'm going to illustrate what this means using examples you yourselves gave in defense of cops in the last meeting. I'll also just note that all of the examples of "good cops" that were given are examples that have nothing whatsoever to do with policing. One councilmember said that a cop trained her how to be a crosswalk guard. Is this really something that only a cop can do? Another councilmember said that cops helped run after school programs for kids. Again is this something that you need a cop to do? Maybe you could reallocate some money from our severely underfunded parks and rec department and run afterschool programs in the park. Another councilmember mentioned that cops helped with homelessness and people living in RVs find housing, and that they were part of a big brother/sister program in schools. This is the job of social workers, who should be more prevalent in our schools and communities, and who have degrees to help solve these problems. Lastly, a councilmember said that cops are required to be first responders for mental health crises because they often have weapons. First of all, assuming someone going through a mental health crisis is violent is a woeful assumption. Secondly, consider the case of someone robbing a bank who takes hostages. This person is also carrying a weapon, and unlike someone going through a mental health crisis, has shown obvious criminal intent. Is the first response for a cop to come in guns blazing? No, you have a hostage negotiator deescalate the situation. We should have mental crises negotiators as first responders, and police back them up only when necessary. I understand that these problems are hard to solve, and that some instances of police budget increases are contractual and must be done. But this is why you were elected. You weren't elected to just hand out money because of a contract. You were elected to listen to our