Over the last 30 years, at both the national and local levels, governments have dramatically increased their spending on policing and incarceration, while drastically cutting investments in basic infrastructure and slowing investments in social safety-net programs.[1] These spending patterns have continued despite the fact that studies show that providing a living wage, access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunities, and stable housing have far more impact on reducing crime than additional police or prisons.[2] For far too long, governments have narrowly defined and resourced public safety through the lens of greater policing and incarceration—choosing to resource punitive systems rather than supportive and nourishing ones.
Community members and advocates around the country are doing vital work to redefine and re-imagine what real safety looks like in their neighborhoods. They are making the case that increased public safety does not come from additional police officers, arrests, jails, and harsher punishments, but rather a dramatic investment in critical resources addressing the root causes of trauma, economic insecurity, housing displacement, and drug abuse.[3]
In grounding any budgetary and policy reform in these community demands and grassroots leadership, local elected officials can divest from criminalization and invest in communities. Find our full evaluation tool on investments in public safety beyond policing here.
“Like every other community in America, our community is over-invested in policing and incarceration and under-invested in housing, jobs, education, health and all the other investments that makes those punitive interventions unnecessary. The safest communities don't have the most cops; they have the most resources. We'll continue to invest our shared resources into good jobs, affordable housing, and second chances for our community.”
— Jillian Johnson, Mayor Pro Tempore, Durham
See how much 12 cities spend on police and corrections compared to other budget priorities.
Click on a city name to see the full research on that jurisdiction, including city data, racial and ethnic demographic information, spending on policing and corrections versus other programs, and how much police and corrections budgets have changed over time.
Methodology
Center for Popular Democracy researchers evaluated each city’s budget based on a full set of criteria as developed in the Reform/Transform toolkit in collaboration with policy experts and advocates. We assessed expenditures on policing and corrections compared to some of the resources and programs that truly keep communities safe: jobs programs, mental health services, and youth development programs. In each city, we looked at both the total operating budget and the general fund budget because each provides useful information: the general fund is the most discretionary part of a jurisdiction’s budget, over which local elected officials have most influence; the total budget shows all sources of funding. In some jurisdictions, the total operating budget and total departmental budgets included capital funds; we noted whether or not the budget analysis for each jurisdiction includes capital funds. Read more »
An acknowledgement: This project aims to evaluate policy and to give policymakers, organizers, and activists the tools to push stronger policies on police reform. We recognize that lived experience and implementation of policy are crucial in their own right and may well differ from the stated policy on the books.