Justice, Reform, and Equity: Reimagining Public Safety
Article by Aida Sall, TPT Staff Writer
In 2020, the world experienced a global racial reckoning following the tragic murders of George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor. As a result, people learned a lot about the role of police brutality and the extent to which it plagues our society. As protestors took to the streets to voice their calls to end police violence, a larger, even more consequential conversation emerged: how to ensure effective public safety in America.
I am writing this on the third year commemoration of the senseless murder of George Floyd — a father, a son, and as his daughter Gianna Floyd said, someone who “changed the world.”
As much as I would like to say we as a nation have improved with respect to police violence, I cannot. This past May, a 30-year-old, unhoused Black man named Jordan Neely was placed into a chokehold and killed by Daniel Penny, a 24-year-old white ex-Marine, while on the New York City subway.
Police departments receive disproportionate funding compared to other social services, which undoubtedly played a role in this. Notably, this is not an isolated incident in New York City, where widely known cases of police brutality took place, such as that of Eric Garner, a 43-year-old Black man who was killed in Staten Island at the hands of police.
Despite this ongoing pattern, the NYPD continually boasts the highest amount allocated to its police budget in the entire nation. For the fiscal year 2023, the NYPD budget totals $10.8 billion – a sum that could be reallocated for crucial, highly effective social services such as education, healthcare, and community support, which serve to actually reduce crime.
The completely preventable death of Jordan Neely is illustrative of this, as it demonstrates the effects of broader issues that plague communities nationwide, such as mental health issues, the homelessness epidemic, and the ineffective nature of the police in effectively improving public safety.
Crime in New York City has been on the rise over the past few years, despite the NYPD’s massive police budget and the fact that there are currently more correctional officers in Rikers Island than prisoners. Thus, it is reasonable to conclude that there is no real, quantifiable correlation between having more police officers and keeping communities safer. Police merely respond to crime; they do not prevent it.
Support for the police as an institution is largely unwavering among American citizens. Even in the wake of calls for fundamental change, many elected officials turn a blind eye when the institution exerts its power in ways that harm people, especially the most vulnerable.
A map of “Cop City,” Atlanta’s proposed police training center. Photo via Atlanta Police Foundation
Earlier this year, the Atlanta City Council voted to approve funding for a new Public Safety Training Center, also dubbed “Cop City,” despite two consecutive years of sustained protests across the city. Officially known as the Public Safety Training Center, the $90 million facility will serve as a training center for Atlanta police.
Authorities have forcefully silenced dissenting voices regarding the establishment of the project, as protestor Manuel Esteban Paez Teran was fatally shot by Atlanta Police in January 2023. Teran was the first protector who opposed the project through an intersectional lens that, as writers Hannah Riley and Micah Herskind said in Teen Vogue, highlighted “the connections between police expansion, gentrification, and the displacement of Atlanta’s Black and low-income residents; and the utter lack of transparency with which the construction planning had unfolded.”
There are viable solutions to address the issue of police violence, such as defunding the police. Contrary to what Republicans and moderate Democrats like New York City mayor Eric Adams continually say, defunding the police is not merely a slogan; it is a method by which we as a nation can truly commit to public safety. Reallocating funding towards integral social services has been proven to be effective in preventing crime from coming to fruition. A more informed and supported populace results in more favorable results and a safer society across the board.
The views articulated in this piece are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect the official stances of High School Democrats of America or The Progressive Teen.