The group tasked with defining how to “defund” the police in Halifax isn’t looking for budget cuts.
A new report is out and contains 36 recommendations on police practices and accountability.
It was presented to the Halifax’s Board of the Police Commissioners on Monday by subcommittee chair El Jones.
“At root, the conversation around defunding calls for us to consider where we as a society put our money,” the report says. “While many people think of defunding solely as a model that proposes ‘taking away’ resources from police, it is more constructively understood as one that advocates for returning funds to socially-based programs … Defunding asks us to consider whether there are better, more effective options for addressing and intervening to address crime and social harm.”
For example, it calls for reallocating resources so officers aren’t the first to attend mental health emergencies.
However, the report doesn’t call for a reduction in funding to the police force.
The review was launched following the murder of George Floyd at the hands of police in the U.S. in 2020.
**With files from Steve MacArthur
