Last year, the Fresno PD budget was $160,000,000, over 50% of the Fresno general fund. This means Fresno PD cost taxpayers more than was was spent on public streets, facilities, park maintenance, and human services combined. Fresno’s projected 2020-21 budget appears to be heading in an extraordinarily similar direction.
While we've been spending astonishing amounts of money on policing, we have not seen improvements to safety, homelessness, mental health, or affordability in our city. Instead, I see the wasteful and harmful actions of our police.
I join the calls of those across the country to defund the police. I demand a budget that adequately and effectively meets the needs of at-risk Fresno residents during this trying and uncertain time, when livelihoods are on the line. I call on you to slash the Fresno PD budget and instead meaningfully reallocate funds towards social programs and resources that support housing, jobs, education, health care, child care, and other critical community needs. We demand a budget that supports community wellbeing, rather than empowers the police forces that tear them apart.
Police have too much power and little accountability. This is true across the country, and Fresno is no exception. This city is over-policed and under-served. Fresno Police Department's budget should be cut and the funds should be allocated to areas that actually benefit the community - such as public education, housing and mental health services.
I love Fresno. I wish to make this my home for many years and to live out a peaceful and productive existence as a part of this community. I believe that the city should reform the police department, by restructuring funding, and using those assets to re-invest in our communities.
Camden, New Jersey was able to strengthen the connection between the police and the community and cut its murder rate by 50% in two years.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/06/08/guardians-not-warriors-how-crime-fell-when-new-jersey-city-dismantled-police-dept/
Fresno is a great city with a handshake mentality. I believe in Fresno. Let's come together to rebuild a great city into a greater city! Let's make true our president's call to action. Let's Make America Great Again, by defunding the police.
Invest in training and educating our officers, educating our youth, caring for our sick and elderly, and getting our mentally ill off of the streets. The money is there, please I urge you to use some of it on the citizens of this community. I believe in the City of Fresno. Will this city show me, that it too believes in me?
Thank you,
Israel Hernandez
There is simply no reason for Fresno PD to be receiving as much money as it does currently, especially when so many other services such as education, healthcare, housing, and parks and recreation have become increasingly strangled of money as of late. If we were to spend all the money wasted on police and instead invest that into our other neglected services, we’d see a large improvement in quality of life, while also answering the problems of drug addiction, homelessness, and crime, without needing power tripping police officers to decide they’re judge, jury, and executioner, all while not getting punished for actions.
Simply put, the FPD doesn't need or even deserves the amount of funding that it regularly receives. The broken policy in body cameras and lack of transparency within the Fresno Police Department's system of training makes it harder to understand why the FPD would be so deserving of funds. The structure of policy and funding serves police officers more than the citizens who pay for such large funding. The ACLU has reported in 2017, that Fresno has spent more than 5.3 million dollars in defending and settling lawsuits related to officer-involved shootings from 2008 through 2016. However, Advance Peace, a program dedicated to ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American Urban neighborhoods, would've only taken 200,000 dollars but it was vetoed by our mayor. Beyond shifting the funding towards better avenues that would serve people of color, such as education, social work and many other ideas that other people in the comments have listed already, the FPD needs to use the funding they do receive towards restructuring training and policy to serve the best interest of oppressed people, not the police officers. The FPD needs to invite non-white and/or youth leaders and activists within their training to reestablish trust. The FPD website also needs to make it clearer the training that takes place; I can't even find the apparent POST links to understand the communication training officers must undertake.
Our community is suffering because our funding isn’t being distributed properly. Fresno would benefit more by investing into schools, public transportation, businesses, and rehabilitation centers. We should aim to make our city more clean and productive. As well as utilize the excessive funding of the police department by training them to effectively deescalate confrontations with communication rather than force and remove racial discrimination.
With all the peaceful protest happening and the police attacking those protestors who are clearing peacefulling protesting, I agree that it is needed to defund FPD. Instead, I believe that the funds should be allocated to schools near the poor areas, used to help the homeless community, and funded towards healthcare.
According to an ACLU report published in 2017, the city of Fresno spent more than $5.3 million defending and settling lawsuits related to officer-involved shootings from 2008 through 2016. In 2020, the city of Fresno had a budget of approximately $1.187 billion, which I'm sure you're well aware of. Last year this council authorized $200,000 to fund Advance Peace, a program dedicated to ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American urban neighborhoods. However, this proposal was vetoed by Mayor Brand, and our incoming Mayor (Dyer) described the program as "providing money to gang members" — despite the fact that early research points towards its success in preventing gun violence. After last Sunday's demonstration, city leaders said that they were willing to work with us. We are tired of millions and millions of dollars needlessly going to police brutality in our city. How is it that we have areas of extreme wealth while other parts of our community have the highest concentrations of poverty in California. Think about it. A $1.187 billion budget and we couldn't fund a studied $200K program. It's time to invest in our communities, and that doesn't just mean North Fresno. I urge you to listen to your community. It's hurting, and it wants change.
I realize that there is a National Movement to defund the police. We have already seen Minneapolis move away from their police force, what that will look like we do not know. What we do know is that the current status quo is no longer acceptable. We have seen in Eugene OR having Mental Health First Responders respond to 911 calls has taken a burden off the local police and reduce violence. Our officers are not properly trained to deal with someone having a mental health crisis. Before you vote to carry over the budget from last year ask yourself can Fresno afford to keep the status quo. Fresno lead the state in Domestic Violence just a few years ago, keeping the budget at the same or a higher level will not help stop Domestic Violence. But if we added some of that budget to support the community, we could prevent future issues that the police will have to answer the call. lets fund after school programs, Domestic Violence support, and mental health services. Thank you for your time and I hope you take the time needed to properly look into the benefits of these services to our community and how it will benefit the City of Fresno a Great American City.
As a city, we need to take a hard look at the rest of the US.
Our nation is finally waking up to a significant problem: police departments around the country are given too much power with no accountability.
Fresno is not perfect in this regard, either.
Police misconduct is costing us taxpayers millions - yes, MILLIONS - a year. Last year’s 4M case was 2x the budget for “legal claims”!
I recommend that the police department’s budget be significantly reduced to reflect the following:
The department needs to figure out how to allocate its own funds better rather than attempting to increase it.
The department should train their officers better and implement more strict rules to prevent needing an enormous budget for handling legal issues due to their own misconduct.
Instead of blowing up the department’s budget, make their job easier: invest in social/community programs that have been proven to reduce crime and improve the community itself.
Please use these funds to better our schools and small businesses as well as mental health resources. Or consider proper educational training that helps to better the police officers involvement in difficult situations.
Simply put, our police does not need so much of our budget. The city of Fresno can put this money to use in other things that will actually benefit the city itself and it’s citizens. One thing I love about Fresno is that we have access to so many places in California because we’re in the middle of the state! We’re also the stop for many people who travel in California. If we use this money on bettering the city, we can attract more people and bring in more citizens/money. Instead of using this money on the police, we can better our education for our children, we can help people in need, we can end homelessness. There is so much good Fresno can do with its budget; our police doesn’t need more money, the people do!
More than 50% of Fresno's expenditures go towards police. I believe the police needs to be defunded and divested back into the community. Reforms such as de-escalation tactics, implicit bias training, etc. will not work as increased training will only fund more to the police department (Minneapolis Police Department has already held a model of progressive police reform, but George Floyd was still murdered). In order to end police violence and cultivate a safer community, we need to reduce the power of the police and their contact with the public. Most crimes occur due to a lack of basic needs and resources. We need to reinvest the funds back into our communities towards counseling, education, and housing, prioritizing West Fresno.
Please consider utilizing the police budget to properly train officers on how to engage with the public, especially people with mental illness & POC. 5.3million has been used in the past years to settle officer involved shootings. I believe if officers were trained as well as health care workers you might spend less money defending their actions because they have not been properly educated.
FPD needs to be defunded, far too much is spent on our police force when it could be going towards much more useful causes such as helping fund schools, mental health programs, ending homelessness and bettering our community overall.
As a life-long Fresno resident, mother and teacher I believe that this city is doing a disservice to all of its residents by allocating so much money to the police department. The fact that my tax dollars are going to lawsuits related to police brutality And a racially biased institution, instead of going to programs that help our community is frustrating to say the least. Instead of spending nearly 50% of our general fund on police we should consider reallocating those funds into helping our population of homeless, social programs for youth, social workers, parks and other valuable services that would greatly impact this city in a positive way. Please consider the best way to help your city and it’s population. Thank you!
I definitely think the schools would be a better place to put these funds. We need to re-evaluate where our money is going. If we had the funds to educate our children and maybe fund their health care options, counseling, and social services instead of unnecessary things like military grade gear for cops our community would be better off. Give educators the funding instead!
The police departments budget should include less funding for militarization and more towards training, particularly in diversity training, de escalation tactics, and use of force as a last resort. There is too much of the city’s funding going towards policing the city and not enough towards community programs and education.
My fear in Fresno electing Chief Dyer as our mayor was that the budget for community programs--including education, mental health services, and youth programs--would be decimated in support of more money to our police departments. The City of Fresno does not need more of its budget to go toward our police department. The real crime prevention takes place in these underfunded community programs. It's time to stop relying on financially-strapped nonprofits to do what our taxes should have been paying for this entire time.
As an aspiring police officer I would recommend that a portion of this funding would go towards teaching officers the basics of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BJJ teaches methods to control a suspect and restrain them in various positions, rather than striking them, which reduces the risk of injury to the suspect as well as to the officer. BJJ is more effective, can be taught to anyone, and looks better on camera to the public and media. Thank you for listening.
Last year, the Fresno PD budget was $160,000,000, over 50% of the Fresno general fund. This means Fresno PD cost taxpayers more than was was spent on public streets, facilities, park maintenance, and human services combined. Fresno’s projected 2020-21 budget appears to be heading in an extraordinarily similar direction.
While we've been spending astonishing amounts of money on policing, we have not seen improvements to safety, homelessness, mental health, or affordability in our city. Instead, I see the wasteful and harmful actions of our police.
I join the calls of those across the country to defund the police. I demand a budget that adequately and effectively meets the needs of at-risk Fresno residents during this trying and uncertain time, when livelihoods are on the line. I call on you to slash the Fresno PD budget and instead meaningfully reallocate funds towards social programs and resources that support housing, jobs, education, health care, child care, and other critical community needs. We demand a budget that supports community wellbeing, rather than empowers the police forces that tear them apart.
Police have too much power and little accountability. This is true across the country, and Fresno is no exception. This city is over-policed and under-served. Fresno Police Department's budget should be cut and the funds should be allocated to areas that actually benefit the community - such as public education, housing and mental health services.
I love Fresno. I wish to make this my home for many years and to live out a peaceful and productive existence as a part of this community. I believe that the city should reform the police department, by restructuring funding, and using those assets to re-invest in our communities.
Camden, New Jersey was able to strengthen the connection between the police and the community and cut its murder rate by 50% in two years.
https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/06/08/guardians-not-warriors-how-crime-fell-when-new-jersey-city-dismantled-police-dept/
Fresno is a great city with a handshake mentality. I believe in Fresno. Let's come together to rebuild a great city into a greater city! Let's make true our president's call to action. Let's Make America Great Again, by defunding the police.
Invest in training and educating our officers, educating our youth, caring for our sick and elderly, and getting our mentally ill off of the streets. The money is there, please I urge you to use some of it on the citizens of this community. I believe in the City of Fresno. Will this city show me, that it too believes in me?
Thank you,
Israel Hernandez
There is simply no reason for Fresno PD to be receiving as much money as it does currently, especially when so many other services such as education, healthcare, housing, and parks and recreation have become increasingly strangled of money as of late. If we were to spend all the money wasted on police and instead invest that into our other neglected services, we’d see a large improvement in quality of life, while also answering the problems of drug addiction, homelessness, and crime, without needing power tripping police officers to decide they’re judge, jury, and executioner, all while not getting punished for actions.
Simply put, the FPD doesn't need or even deserves the amount of funding that it regularly receives. The broken policy in body cameras and lack of transparency within the Fresno Police Department's system of training makes it harder to understand why the FPD would be so deserving of funds. The structure of policy and funding serves police officers more than the citizens who pay for such large funding. The ACLU has reported in 2017, that Fresno has spent more than 5.3 million dollars in defending and settling lawsuits related to officer-involved shootings from 2008 through 2016. However, Advance Peace, a program dedicated to ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American Urban neighborhoods, would've only taken 200,000 dollars but it was vetoed by our mayor. Beyond shifting the funding towards better avenues that would serve people of color, such as education, social work and many other ideas that other people in the comments have listed already, the FPD needs to use the funding they do receive towards restructuring training and policy to serve the best interest of oppressed people, not the police officers. The FPD needs to invite non-white and/or youth leaders and activists within their training to reestablish trust. The FPD website also needs to make it clearer the training that takes place; I can't even find the apparent POST links to understand the communication training officers must undertake.
Our community is suffering because our funding isn’t being distributed properly. Fresno would benefit more by investing into schools, public transportation, businesses, and rehabilitation centers. We should aim to make our city more clean and productive. As well as utilize the excessive funding of the police department by training them to effectively deescalate confrontations with communication rather than force and remove racial discrimination.
With all the peaceful protest happening and the police attacking those protestors who are clearing peacefulling protesting, I agree that it is needed to defund FPD. Instead, I believe that the funds should be allocated to schools near the poor areas, used to help the homeless community, and funded towards healthcare.
According to an ACLU report published in 2017, the city of Fresno spent more than $5.3 million defending and settling lawsuits related to officer-involved shootings from 2008 through 2016. In 2020, the city of Fresno had a budget of approximately $1.187 billion, which I'm sure you're well aware of. Last year this council authorized $200,000 to fund Advance Peace, a program dedicated to ending cyclical and retaliatory gun violence in American urban neighborhoods. However, this proposal was vetoed by Mayor Brand, and our incoming Mayor (Dyer) described the program as "providing money to gang members" — despite the fact that early research points towards its success in preventing gun violence. After last Sunday's demonstration, city leaders said that they were willing to work with us. We are tired of millions and millions of dollars needlessly going to police brutality in our city. How is it that we have areas of extreme wealth while other parts of our community have the highest concentrations of poverty in California. Think about it. A $1.187 billion budget and we couldn't fund a studied $200K program. It's time to invest in our communities, and that doesn't just mean North Fresno. I urge you to listen to your community. It's hurting, and it wants change.
I realize that there is a National Movement to defund the police. We have already seen Minneapolis move away from their police force, what that will look like we do not know. What we do know is that the current status quo is no longer acceptable. We have seen in Eugene OR having Mental Health First Responders respond to 911 calls has taken a burden off the local police and reduce violence. Our officers are not properly trained to deal with someone having a mental health crisis. Before you vote to carry over the budget from last year ask yourself can Fresno afford to keep the status quo. Fresno lead the state in Domestic Violence just a few years ago, keeping the budget at the same or a higher level will not help stop Domestic Violence. But if we added some of that budget to support the community, we could prevent future issues that the police will have to answer the call. lets fund after school programs, Domestic Violence support, and mental health services. Thank you for your time and I hope you take the time needed to properly look into the benefits of these services to our community and how it will benefit the City of Fresno a Great American City.
As a city, we need to take a hard look at the rest of the US.
Our nation is finally waking up to a significant problem: police departments around the country are given too much power with no accountability.
Fresno is not perfect in this regard, either.
Police misconduct is costing us taxpayers millions - yes, MILLIONS - a year. Last year’s 4M case was 2x the budget for “legal claims”!
I recommend that the police department’s budget be significantly reduced to reflect the following:
The department needs to figure out how to allocate its own funds better rather than attempting to increase it.
The department should train their officers better and implement more strict rules to prevent needing an enormous budget for handling legal issues due to their own misconduct.
Instead of blowing up the department’s budget, make their job easier: invest in social/community programs that have been proven to reduce crime and improve the community itself.
Please use these funds to better our schools and small businesses as well as mental health resources. Or consider proper educational training that helps to better the police officers involvement in difficult situations.
Simply put, our police does not need so much of our budget. The city of Fresno can put this money to use in other things that will actually benefit the city itself and it’s citizens. One thing I love about Fresno is that we have access to so many places in California because we’re in the middle of the state! We’re also the stop for many people who travel in California. If we use this money on bettering the city, we can attract more people and bring in more citizens/money. Instead of using this money on the police, we can better our education for our children, we can help people in need, we can end homelessness. There is so much good Fresno can do with its budget; our police doesn’t need more money, the people do!
More than 50% of Fresno's expenditures go towards police. I believe the police needs to be defunded and divested back into the community. Reforms such as de-escalation tactics, implicit bias training, etc. will not work as increased training will only fund more to the police department (Minneapolis Police Department has already held a model of progressive police reform, but George Floyd was still murdered). In order to end police violence and cultivate a safer community, we need to reduce the power of the police and their contact with the public. Most crimes occur due to a lack of basic needs and resources. We need to reinvest the funds back into our communities towards counseling, education, and housing, prioritizing West Fresno.
Please consider utilizing the police budget to properly train officers on how to engage with the public, especially people with mental illness & POC. 5.3million has been used in the past years to settle officer involved shootings. I believe if officers were trained as well as health care workers you might spend less money defending their actions because they have not been properly educated.
FPD needs to be defunded, far too much is spent on our police force when it could be going towards much more useful causes such as helping fund schools, mental health programs, ending homelessness and bettering our community overall.
As a life-long Fresno resident, mother and teacher I believe that this city is doing a disservice to all of its residents by allocating so much money to the police department. The fact that my tax dollars are going to lawsuits related to police brutality And a racially biased institution, instead of going to programs that help our community is frustrating to say the least. Instead of spending nearly 50% of our general fund on police we should consider reallocating those funds into helping our population of homeless, social programs for youth, social workers, parks and other valuable services that would greatly impact this city in a positive way. Please consider the best way to help your city and it’s population. Thank you!
I definitely think the schools would be a better place to put these funds. We need to re-evaluate where our money is going. If we had the funds to educate our children and maybe fund their health care options, counseling, and social services instead of unnecessary things like military grade gear for cops our community would be better off. Give educators the funding instead!
The police departments budget should include less funding for militarization and more towards training, particularly in diversity training, de escalation tactics, and use of force as a last resort. There is too much of the city’s funding going towards policing the city and not enough towards community programs and education.
My fear in Fresno electing Chief Dyer as our mayor was that the budget for community programs--including education, mental health services, and youth programs--would be decimated in support of more money to our police departments. The City of Fresno does not need more of its budget to go toward our police department. The real crime prevention takes place in these underfunded community programs. It's time to stop relying on financially-strapped nonprofits to do what our taxes should have been paying for this entire time.
As an aspiring police officer I would recommend that a portion of this funding would go towards teaching officers the basics of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. BJJ teaches methods to control a suspect and restrain them in various positions, rather than striking them, which reduces the risk of injury to the suspect as well as to the officer. BJJ is more effective, can be taught to anyone, and looks better on camera to the public and media. Thank you for listening.