Should funding for local police departments be redirected to social and community based programs?

No, but make sure that there are more types of professionals who can respond to critical situations without the need for fatal weaponry, but lean towards non-fatal defense tools like tasers & mace.

We still need the police as is, but we ALSO need much greater social and support programs. Once those are FIRMLY established and crime rate etc reduces naturally we can slowly reduce police forces

The police academy is a short program that teaches police how to shoot a gun and other physical things. There should be more emphasis on being educated on how to respond without automatically resorting to violence, and how to help the citizens effectively. They should also test for the mental health of the individual who wants to get into the police academy to make sure they are of sound mind.

Both are important ways to enforce the law. Social and community based programs are simply better long term solutions. However, the police should not be underfunded for this purpose.

I think the police still have a place in our society as community enforcement however we do need more social supports

Yes and no, funding should be spread as needed for the police officers themselves and then the people community and social programs

No, Evaluating the current funding allocations, exploring ways to enhance community-oriented policing and collaborating with stakeholders to find solutions that promote both safety and social equity

not all but some of the funding should go to social and community programs to understand safety and rights protection.

No, increase funding and training for police departments to be better equipped to deal with difficult calls ie. mental health issues, sex crimes etc...

Slower transition to community support so crime is reduced. As crime rates are lowered, then replace policing with more enriching community well being programs.

increase funding and training for police but also put a lot of funding into social and community based programs

Police funding should be a combination of funding regular police activities as well as funding social and community based programs.

fund the police more and increase training but also put in social/community based programs in high crime areas

I'm in the middle on this one because community programs are good but also having a good police force is good as well.

If it didn’t affect police training or their ability to improve and protect the community.

Well yes and no. As we need our police propally trained and go through an arrange of political tests to make sure they will be a protector to our community not an agitator in some cases. I also say no as we need more funding for certain schools to help kids learn what a community should look like in a good enviorment instead of ones that have confrontation everywhere. On the news as well as personal event in ones case.

yes, but in small amounts over time

No we should have both police and programs with trained professionals.

work with other emergency responders together and retrain law enforcement.

No, funding should be given to both police departments and community based programs.

Yes, I believe that we should reduce 20% of the police force's budget and redirect it to helping young people before they become criminals.

Leave Funding as it is but change how the police system works and how they are trained.

INCRESS TRAINING BETTER TRAIND OFFICERS that's all

it is good right now in Canada

more funding towards realistic laws

i don’t have an opinion

No, issues with police are due to inadequate funding. Increase police funding

they should both work together

i like it how it is

i feel that we should retrain them and get better training programs for them

I believe that the police still need funding in order to protect the people but the funding for social and community programs should be increased.

Increase funding for both social/community programs and police. Both are necessary.

No, but redirect funding towards more non violent conflict resolution

I think the funding for all should be weighed but that police departments need better training and oversight over their "employees" as all jobs have bad apples. its just having bad apples in the police department is REALLY not good.

No, but have the police be more integrated into the community.

Use the money to properly train police officers.

they should be better trained to defuse conflict

Part community funding. Less police with less protections from wrong doing. External ombudsman to remove police protections and firing. Personally liable for wrong acts not just criminal. Theft, Co-ersion, drugs, protection money, excessive force, whole wide range of horrible things.

I believe it should go in both way

what is the funding!

Yes, but also increase funding and training in higher crime rate communities.

There should be a middle ground where police have funding and training, but there are different branches for responding to non violent crimes, mental health crisis, etc

Just out up cameras the police are useless

police should get more funding

Support both and encouraging the cooperation between both to provide a better service overall

We should increase training for police so they are more competent. There is a clear issue, but defunding will only make it worse.

It should be half and half. They need their equipment, but also need to have a good relationship with the public.

Keep police, increase funding to social support systems

No, but create a program where it involves more mental health awareness

No, not redirected. Funding should be provisioned and allocated to both police and social/community based programs to better prepare each party for issues that arise.

Deparmentalize the roles of "police" and improve the reporting infrastructure to properly respond to issue at hand

Funding should be increased fro police departments in higher crime rate communities. But social and community based programs should also get more funding

Maintain funding for RCMP, but implement funding for social / community programs as well.

Funding should be focused on educating police overs and making them better equipped to deal with situations. Police offers should be held accountable; remove the power from the unions to protect them when they have done wrong.

Some funds should be redirected along with responsibilities like health checks.

Fund the police but also have a mental health unit or medical persons to be involved

Some funding and duties could be reallocated to social workers however should still be under the ospice of the police department

No, not right away. But if we spend more money for social community based programs than in theory we shouldnt need to spend as much policing. However it wouldnt be an overnight process

No, it shouldnt be redirected but more funding should be provided to community based programs as well.

No, Increase funding for training police. Also add funding for social and community based programs

Funding should be directed to use of force training for Officers.

I think they should both be equal because we need more safety and more social programs for everyone.

yes but not too much only a little chunk

More money put into mental health but we need police

Both social programs and local police departments require more funding to make society as safe as possible.

No but more money should be allocated to social and community based programs.

No, this might be the stupidest question of all time

Demilitirize police and don't increase social program

Leave the police fully enabled. Create positions for trained helpers as part of EMS to pick up the load of poverty and psychodrama policing.

Hold officers accountable for their actions

neither, spend the money on something more important, like schools

Community policing so the police know the people around them, hence lowering the danger involved with being stopped by police

Yes, but only for Mental health resources

both in need of funding

Yes, increase funding everywhere so that they can be trained more efficiently.

We should at least find a way to fund other services without defending them

A portion but not all of police budget could be directed to social programming

Keep the police and have branches that aid in social programs

You can't defund the police, they do need better training and also need to be a assisted by a social worker or councillor to calls with mental health issues, domestic abuse cases. Just like when a child is involved child services are involved.

No, there needs to be more research done on the effectiveness of these programs before allocating funds to it

No set police budget @1.5X and have minimum requirements for community service

Lower it slightly

Police should have better funding for training, but there should also be a community of volunteers for non violent calls

No! Until Canada addresses the concerns of high rate crime committed it's not feasible at this time.

I personally think funding should be split 50 50

Yes, but send unarmed social and community based responders to accompany police for non violent calls

It needs to be a balance of both - whatever works best to reduce crime.

No, they should both be increased and on equal footing

Yes, start (pilot) with directing 10% of the police budget to social services and measure the results to determine the effectiveness of this strategy.

No, but the mandate of police should be expanded to include more of a social welfare element. Also, this is an issue of provincial jurisdiction.

Yes, but only for non criminal related matters like traffic violations and mental health services

Regardless, all government bodies funded by theft should be abolished, including both police and social/community programs.

NO! This is absolutely one of the dumbest things society could do. A country without law and order will not be a country for long

Until the war on drugs ends, police will be a military type force. They have been thrust into this role by government. We should end the war on drugs and then demilitarize the police forces, to have them return to their conducting themselves as they did in the past (protect/serve).