OPINION | Debunking the Defunding Myth

by Gennette Cordova

The summer protests of 2020, fueled by police violence like the murder of George Floyd, brought amplified calls for the defunding of police departments across the country, at a volume that had not been heard prior and has not been heard since. The overwhelming backlash to those demands was swift and, in many cases, intentionally misleading. From country clubs to coffee shops, on the news and at family gatherings, out of the mouths of electeds and regular folks commenting online, a pronounced characteristic of post-2020 America is the scapegoating of imaginary police defunding for societal failures.

The truth of the matter is that there was never any change to our city's police budget that kept them from paying officers or hindered their ability to prevent or solve crime.

In Seattle, next year's endorsed police budget is $385 million, that's up $30 million from last year. So, where does the myth of defunding come from? In concert with an uprising against police brutality and calls for defunding departments and routing the money into the community, our City Council approved police budgets that were smaller than the 2019 and 2020 budgets, which hovered just below and just above $400 million, respectively. The approved dips in the budgets, however, were simply a reflection of traffic enforcement and dispatch positions being moved outside of the department. This was a toothless attempt at appeasing defunding advocates while making no real change to policing.

In 2020 and 2021, there was an exodus of officers, mainly over heightened scrutiny and a refusal to submit to COVID protocols. Since then, SPD has had funding for officers that don't exist and won't realistically be recruited any time soon, despite up to $30K signing bonuses approved by the City Council. Next year, they'll have funding for 120 unhired officers despite expecting to net only 15 new officers.

I find it hard to believe that someone could look at data and conclude, in good faith, that Seattle's police have truly experienced defunding. In the past decade, the city's police budget has swelled immensely, jumping up by nearly $100 million, since 2014. Still, I regularly see comments from people online questioning, "How's that defunding going?" under stories about violent crime. This misinformation is perpetuated by the Seattle Police Officers Guild (SPOG), led by its president Mike Solan, who once blamed the Jan. 6 siege on Black Lives Matter activists.

On social media, SPOG unabashedly preys on the fears of the city's residents by exploiting very real tragedies and hardships that our communities face, while failing to mention what specific support they need but don't have, or how that support would have prevented the incidents they're attempting to capitalize on. These tactics are essentially fundraising campaigns. They generate pressure to increase police budgets whether crime drops, spikes, or stagnates.

In Seattle, it's true that while some violent crime is down, homicides are up compared to last year. Are homicides up because the police don't have the budget they want? Or, are they up because SPD hasn't been able to attract new recruits despite the overly generous signing bonuses approved by the City Council? According to available data, both are unlikely.

Late last year, a report conducted by Catalyst California and the ACLU of Southern California affirmed what many people who've witnessed the activities of on-duty police officers already knew: Cops spend little time fighting or controlling crime. The study also highlighted that police don't regularly solve serious or violent crime. Their analyses of dispatch data in some major cities, including Seattle, revealed that police actually spend most of their time on racially biased, ineffective traffic violations and minor issues like noise complaints.

A 2016 review of 62 studies of police size and crime, published in the Journal of Experimental Criminology, conducted over 40 years, found that "the overall effect size of police force has on crime is negative, small, and not statistically significant."

If people need a cause for the nationwide spike in violent crime, particularly gun violence, perhaps it's an oversupply of guns, COVID-related isolation and economic instability, or untreated mental illness and addiction. Or a combination. With all of the commotion over perceived defunding of police, there's a curious lack of outrage over the things we're actually underfunding like mental health resources, affordable housing, schools and after-school programs.

For the 2023—2024 school year, to deal with its $131 million budget shortfall, Seattle Public Schools is facing at least 70 cuts to its central staff and some school programs, while quality after-school programming, which has proven effective at reducing crime and supporting academic performance, is already chronically underfunded in our city. Despite these reductions being real and having a clear impact on the school system's ability to function properly, unlike "cuts" to police budgets, they're not typically labeled "defunding." Nationwide, Americans suffer from a derangement about policing, exacerbated by the news, fearmongering politicians, and cop shows.

To shield police against valid criticism, their proponents often say that police have an impossible job. And, in a sense, they're right. Data shows that police don't solve most serious crimes, including murder, rape, burglary, and robbery — and they never have. Furthermore, they certainly aren't addressing the root causes of crime, so how could a reliance on them ever deliver us a safe society?

Convincing people to consider this question seems futile. So many people depend on manufactured ideas of policing to feel a sense of security. Therefore the thought of defunding is unnerving. Fortunately (and unfortunately), those with that fear can find comfort in knowing that the Seattle police have more money than they need.

The South Seattle Emerald is committed to holding space for a variety of viewpoints within our community, with the understanding that differing perspectives do not negate mutual respect amongst community members.

The opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints expressed by the contributors on this website do not necessarily reflect the opinions, beliefs, and viewpoints of the Emerald or official policies of the Emerald.

Gennette Cordova is a writer, organizer, and social impact manager. She contributes to publications like Teen Vogue and Revolt TV and runs an organization, Lorraine House, which seeks to build and uplift radical communities through art and activism.

📸 Featured Image: A Seattle police badge on the sleeve of body armor of an officer clearing out the Capitol Hill Occupation Protest on July 1, 2020. Photo via VDB Photos/Shutterstock.com.