Defund the Baltimore City Police Department. We demand that 100 million dollars be cut from BPD’s budget. The constant growth of BPD’s budget has not correlated into a decrease in crime or harm and has only fed surveillance and police violence in Black and brown communities.
Create a Community Wellness trust fund. We demand a $30 million dollar investment into reimaging public safety trust fund to be governed through a participatory budgeting process. Baltimorians are more than capable of identifying what public safety without increased police presence or surveillance tools looks like for them.
Invest in Black communities. We demand that $70 million dollars be allocated to support quality, affordable housing, high-quality public education, universal healthcare, jobs, a universal basic income, and community programs.
Remove police entirely from responses to mental health distress, substance use, sex work, homelessness, and other quaility-of-life issues. We demand Baltimore create an alternative to 911 that does not dispatch police to connect people in crisis with the mental health, housing, treatment and/or harm reduction resources they need to live with dignity.
Demands from Summer of 2020.
Divest (Defund) from BPD.
We demand an immediate divestment from the Baltimore Police Department. We Demand local schools, colleges, universities, and institutions cut ties with BPD, including School Resource Officers, and disband their current police forces. We reject any intervention made by law enforcement officers in the lives of our people. Instead, we call for the introduction of restorative and transformative justice measures to handle conflict.
Invest in Black Communities.
We demand 50% of BPD’s 2020 operating budget to be invested in Baltimore’s Black Communities. $268,188,238 needs to be invested in infrastructure, healthcare, education, housing, and other social services. Our communities deserve investment.
Abolish Law Enforcement Officers’ Bill of Rights (LEOBoR)
We demand the immediate abolishment of LEOBoR. This “Bill of Rights” hinders transparency and accountability. Under LEOBoR, officers charged with crimes are protected from public reckoning. We refuse the continued protection of officers that enact egregious violence on our communities.
Local Control
We demand the City of Baltimore gains control of the Baltimore Police Department. BPD has been a state agency for 159 years since 1861. We reject the “need” for outside actors to determine what public safety looks like for our city. We affirm the skills and values of Baltimore’s residents to handle issues of safety and wellness.
