Durham City Council makes $1M “down payment” toward policing alternatives
The Durham City Council voted 4-2 Monday night to earmark $1 million for alternatives to policing and took three other actions some called first steps toward eventually reducing Police Department funding.
“I consider this a down payment,” Mayor Steve Schewel said of the $1 million approved to implement future recommendations of a new city task force.
The council also agreed to
▪ Urge the county commissioners and the school board to join the community safety task force.
▪ Direct City Manager Tom Bonfield and staff to audit 911 calls to see what police functions could be assigned to other city or county departments, such as responding to mental-health crises and minor traffic incidents.
▪ Review the city’s use-of-force policies within 90 days.
As with many City Council votes on policing, the split vote followed a familiar pattern.
Schewel, Mayor Pro Tem Jillian Johnson, Javiera Caballero and Charlie Reece voted for the commitments.
Mark-Anthony Middleton and DeDreana Freeman voted against them.
Middleton and Freeman expressed concerns, including about some task force’s supporters’ larger goal of reducing police resources. Durham is a growing city where some residents live in neighborhoods with violent crime, they said.
Middleton said he wants the city to be able to send mental-health experts to situations when needed, but also to be able to send a SWAT team if white supremacists are shooting at protesters. He urged the council to devote money to address needs such as housing, poverty and initiatives that reduce contact with police.
Supporters of Monday night’s actions said they didn’t want to move forward without approving the initial investment and making concrete commitments.
The council has received over 4,000 emails in the last 10 days calling on elected leaders to reimagine community safety in Durham, since George Floyd died May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into Floyd’s neck for nearly nine minutes.
The $1 million will fund the future recommendations of the city’s Community Safety and Wellness Task Force, whose members haven’t been appointed yet. The funding source isn’t clear yet, Bonfield told The News & Observer.
Community Safety and Wellness Task Force
The City Council approved the task force’s bylaws in March after the Durham Beyond Policing coalition had lobbied for the task force over hiring more police officers a year earlier. The coalition includes local chapters of BYP100, SONG (Southerners On New Ground) and SpiritHouse.
The task force’s 15 members will include people who have been convicted of crimes, as well as experts in different fields.
The city will appoint five members, while Durham County will appoint five and the Board of Education will appoint three.
The school board has signed on, Schewel said a board member told him Monday. And County Commissioners Chair Wendy Jacobs communicated to Schewel Monday night that officials plan to take up the issue at their June 22 meeting.
Review use-of-force policies, 911 calls
A statement Schewel said he worked on with Johnson and others was not approved Monday night when some council members had concerns about its overall wording.
It applauded Police Chief C.J. Davis’ leadership and the non-confrontational way in which police have responded to demonstrations, included having a minimal presence while blocking traffic for protesters.
The statement also thanked protest organizers who have spoken against systemic racism and whose work has led to the new initiatives.
“We stand with you,” the statement said.
The budget and police
The City Council also voted 6-0 to approve the $502.6 million budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1.
Property owners won’t face a tax increase and city employees won’t get raises in a budget that prepares for revenue losses and unknown expenses from the coronavirus pandemic, The News & Observer previously reported.
The pandemic forced city officials to overhaul the budget that had included a 5% pay increase for city employees and a property-tax increase to support affordable housing. The budget includes a $5 million fund to cover COVID-19 losses and needs.
The Police Department is scheduled to receive $70.4 million, a 5% increase over the current year.
The increase is mostly due to the the city absorbing costs associated with a federal grant that funded 15 police officers for three years, six police officers positions for the gang unit approved by the City Council in March, and mandatory state retirement costs.
The budget maintains the city’s existing property tax rate of 53.17 cents per $100 of assessed property value. The rate generates a city tax bill of about $1,229 per year on a home valued at $229,246, Durham’s median house value, according to the Durham County Office of Tax Administration.
Dozens of people spoke before Monday’s votes. Many opposed the 5% increase in police spending and asked the council not to fund the department at all.
“What I know after years of working on this, is that the city of Durham, the people of Durham are ready for change, have been ready for change, and that we deserve for our leaders to listen to us,” said Serena Sebring, an organizer with Southerners on New Ground, who wants to police department to be defunded.
A handful of speakers supported the proposed budget and praised Davis and efforts to reform the police over the years.
Johnson said Monday’s actions are a start toward making a “commitment to the community that (shows) we are interested in finding ways of moving resources from policing to more holistic and restorative forms of community safety.”
Years of grass roots organizing
Community advocates have pushed the city for at least 10 years to address racial disparities in traffic stops and searches, and concerns about overpolicing, police responses to protests and fatal shootings of people in mental health crises.
Among the changes that have been made are a requirement of written consent for voluntary vehicle searches, the deprioritizing of misdemeanor marijuana arrests, and the expansion of crisis intervention, racial equity and de-esculation training.
Before Durham Beyond Policing, the Fostering Alternative Drug Enforcement (FADE) Coalition and others prompted Mayor Bill Bell in 2013 to direct the city’s Human Relations Commission to investigate. After months of hearings, it concluded that racial bias and profiling existed in the Police Department.
Bonfield oversaw a number of changes, including requiring police to review and share traffic stop data semi-annually. He eventually forced former Police Chief Jose Lopez to retire at the end of 2015 under mounting criticism on his response to concerns about racial bias and a rising violent crime rate. Davis started in June 2016.
‘People’s Budget Hearing’
On Saturday Durham Beyond Policing held “The People’s Budget Hearing,” on the online platform Zoom.
The group demanded:
▪ 100% defunding of the Police Department budget and reallocating it to community needs.
▪ $200,000 for the safety and wellness task force.
▪ $7 million for a coronavirus mutual aid and relief fund that priorities aid to vulnerable community members.
▪ A resolution declaring racism, white supremacy and anti-Blackness a public health concern in which solutions are prioritized and funded.
This story was originally published June 15, 2020 at 5:19 PM.
