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From: Aleiandra <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 9:51:23 AM <br />Dear City Council, <br />My name is Alejandra Prado, and I am a resident of Redwood City. I urge you to reject the <br />proposed budget because it allocates $49M toward an outdated and punitive policing <br />system that makes many residents feel unsafe. Instead, in the name of public safety, I ask <br />that you defund the police and reallocate their funds into programs that prevent crime such <br />as affordable housing, community services and non -police response teams. <br />Though it may seem counterintuitive, many residents in our city do not feel safer <br />with a large police presence. This follows a long local and national history of <br />unequal treatment of residents by the police - with respect to which neighborhoods <br />they patrol, which crimes they enforce, and against whom and how severely they <br />use force. In particular, many people of color, people experiencing homelessness, <br />and people struggling with mental illness do not feel safe around police. <br />Redwood City has increased its funds for police by 79% since 2010 (source). <br />Moreover, Redwood City allocates a higher portion of its general fund to police than <br />most of its peers - including Mountain View, Milpitas, Santa Clara, South San <br />Francisco, and Palo Alto (source). I urge you to reverse these trends for the safety <br />of our residents. <br />Many similar -size cities, including San Leandro, and Eugene, OR, have redirected <br />funds to non -police response teams that can cover a large percentage of 911 calls <br />with little need for backup and for a fraction of the cost (sources here and here). <br />Redwood City should adopt these common-sense, cost-effective, and safer <br />alternatives to policing. <br />I am deeply concerned that the City Council is only discussing long-term reform <br />when the data suggests that reforms do not work. Police body cameras do not <br />prevent violence. In fact, the murder of Rayshard Brooks last week occurred by an <br />officer wearing a body camera. Bias and diversity training have not been shown to <br />work. For example, see Harvard Professor Dobbin's research here. Bans on <br />chokeholds do not work, as the police killing of Eric Garner reminds us - he was <br />killed by an illegal chokehold. Rather than slow-moving reforms that often increase <br />police budgets, we need to redirect the funds immediately. <br />I want a city that is safe for everyone. That is why I urge you to defund the police and divert <br />their funds into services that prevent crime. We cannot wait to take meaningful action until <br />October: how many more people will be arrested, harassed, or killed by the police by then? <br />The future of public safety is a future of prevention, by community services and unarmed <br />specialists, rather than punishment backed by armed force and incarceration. I implore you, <br />for our sake, to reorient our city to this future. <br />Thank you for your time, <br />Alejandra Prado <br />1415 Ebener Street <br />Redwood City, CA 94061 <br />aprado55@yahoo.com <br />