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

More money should be spent on police rehabilitation and screening so police are better equipped and know what to do in certain situations

No but police need specialized training in mental health and more training in non-leathal force

Yes, but don't take only a portion of the funds instead of all or a big amount of it.

No, but that funding should be lessened while being focused towards training, regulations, and removing corruption

Depends on how effective and influential a social and community based programs are. It also depends on how much new technology and systems the local police need

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.

Channel funds based on data collected regarding actual efficacy of reducing recidivism instead of current metrics.

should be balanced

we need the police, and if we can't figure out how we can balance the police funding and the funding of other programs, thinking that abolishing the police is a good idea is insane.

Do not defund the police, as every community needs law enforcement. Unthinkable crimes can occur regardless of available resources. If someone is intent on committing a crime, they will do so, regardless of the support they receive early on. While it is important to invest in community safety programs to foster a secure environment, police remain essential for when things go wrong. Unfortunately, we do not live in a perfect world.

More police with better mental health training and higher wages for social workers to accompany the police.

No, funding should social and community based programs should be done in coordination with police services.

Both should be increased, and eventually decrease the police once the social programs are being more effective.

Police and social and community programs should work collaboratively to ensure best social and public outcomes possible. Police should not be refunded but the result of collaboration should be more focused on better and healthier community and personal outcomes for the individuals involved

Police should instead be reviewed for abuse of power consistently and trained in non-violent de-escalation. Police should go under the same biased testing as juries do before being able "serve justice"

Urban and rural need two different approaches. Urban policing should defund some programs to fund some social programs. Rurally we need more police.

No, just increase funding for social based community programs while maintaining funding levels for local police.

Funding should be determined on a community needs basis. Some communities need higher police presence due to crime rates, while others would benefit from an increase in social and community programs. More police funding should be put into adequate training for situations involving mental health and disenfranchised individuals to prevent excessive use of force or misattributing symptoms to drug use.

Redirect more department funds towards training programs, diversity / poverty / mental health training, and increase social & community based programs.

Funding should be given to both, not redirected. Our police budgets have continually decreased and they are unable to do their jobs as well. BUT, social and community based programs should also have increased funding.

Yes, we should have other levels of response for non-violent or mental health situations. But we could also attempt better screening & training to police officers for these situations

Some funding should be redirected to mental health agencies, to deal with offenders that are mentally ill.

Shift non-criminal crisis response (e.g., mental health calls) to specialized teams while keeping police focused on serious crime.

Increase funding for both policing and community programs instead of taking from one to fund the other.

Invest in de-escalation and mental health training for officers to improve public interactions.

Audit police budgets to cut inefficiencies without reducing necessary law enforcement services.

No, the police should no longer be involved with non-criminal events, public safety officers with specialized public training to deescalate and mental issues on top of self defense courses - these should be doing the majority of civil work like traffic tickets, bylaw enforcement, patrolling the streets. The way it used to work was better.

Yes redirect some of the police department spending to mental health teams that work directing with the police.

Both social parties and police need to work together in partnership to best influence as both have separate skill sets with small amounts of overlap.

Community programs are good and something we should strive for but not at the cost of defunding local police

it depends on what programs they are being funded for because the police should also recieve some funds for the protection they prodive aswell

I personally think that there should be a balance, funding towards law enforcement in society is crucial, therefore the funds necessary to maintain law enforcement should remain dedicated to this cause. Funding for community based programs should not be taken out of law enforcement funding.

No, and increase funding and training for police to recognize when an event requires a mental health professional and allow them access to work with those professionals.

Better training. More diversity to reflect community. Physical fitness tests every 5 years. More community policing instead of reactive

Yes because many community programs could benefit lots of people and there are a lot of cops that seem to be more worried about the people on the road and vehicles rather than the bigger criminals who rob, assult, kill, etc. From my experience there are more cops trying to catch people speeding or finding broken tailights than trying to catch criminals that are way worse then the people who speed so I feel that if they aren't going to worry about the bigger criminals then they shouldn't get all of the funding money.

Downsize police forces and increase funding for them to respond to threats of physical natures. Replace all other calls with a community/mental health approach to de-escalation and referall to resources.

rather than take from the police abolish department waste and put more money into communities separately

Slightly more for local police departments and the rest be redirected to social and community based programs

it would benefit the community but it would lead to more crime on the streets if not enough funds are going to the police

Yes, but funding should also be allocated for further training of police officers so less death, discrimination, and escalation happens

Potentially; if further funding is allocated to preventative measures, such as community based programs, only after proof of success (i.e. lower crime rate) should funding for responsive measures such as police be lessened.

I think it should be the same, both police staff should be treated and trained the right way and funded to do so as well as more to be able to access other needs as well as the thoughts of the citizens and how they feel about the community they live in and what should be there.

The police shouldn't be defunded, but social and community-based programs should have more funding, which in turn would lower crime rates.

We need to fund both police and social programs. Hopefully, more action on social issues will eventually reduce the need for police.

Less funding for "Money Grab" policing, speed cameras, red light cameras, placing speed enforcement on known "faster" roadways, and more funding for investigative policing, and police training in todays world.

Yes, but police should still be active but under a new protocol that ensures safety and communication as a priority first over anything that may cause harm.

No, but it should be redirected internally within the police force to better education and community based tools

Increase funding for both police and social services for mental health and increase staff and training for mental health calls in the community

Funding should be split between better social training for POs and social/emergency services like EMTs and social workers for violent or mental health related incidents

More community based programs, but we also need a over haul of the entire policing system. Weed out the bad ones and retraining

I think that some resources should be redirected within departments to assist with training officers to deal with social issues and non-violent offenders better.

There should be targeted de-escalation training that should be reviewed and scored on performance, at the same time, balance out the the funding where it's most required. Local jurisdictions should be able to allocate funding based on needs if they are doing their jobs.

Yes, and training should be provided to police and 911 operators to ensure that the proper programs are dispatched to ongoing incidents.

Only have police with guns respond to violent crimes. Have unarmed peace officers respond to everything else

The security of communities is to important to redirect the police funding to social programs. Money should be given to Social programs and allocated properly so that the right people get the right help

I'm in favour of the funding for non-policing forms of public safety, although I still feel as though there should be some form of police force, though I know it's harder to fund both

the answers are flawed their should be an in-between my answer would be " they should take away a percentage lets say between 15% to 25% of the funding for police and redirect that to social programs but that is not saying that police work isn't important but it is in need of regulation

We need both police and increases to social work programs. Proactive care first, but reactive care if needed

No, funding should be directed to social and community based programs but “abolishing the police” and reducing funding for police is not an answer

Yes, community programs should be funded more but it shouldn't take away from our first responder's who also need more funding

the police department shouldn't be defunded, but there should be a lot more community based programs being funded.

No, funding for police should stay the same but still give social and community programs more funding

No. Keep police infrastructure and replace the quota system to reduce police incentive for violence. Officers should also be required to go through a screening, particularly violent individuals should not be allowed on the force.

There is a fine balance between police funding and community programs. There should be more training for police officers, and they do need to have firearms for viloent encounters. However, guns should NOT be the first choice for an officer unless provoked by another gun. There should also be more funding and support for community based programs, and there should be more accesibility to them.

Yes, but keep police for more violent matters, in situations where a person isn't a threat a unarmed person should go along with a police officer and try and deescalate the situation before the police act.

i believe they should be trained to respond to certain situations differently. and i also believe they should be monitored more

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.

Yes more social programs but more training, making our police more versatile than force in any situation. More training, less force.

Keep police funding the same as it is now and eliminate budget raises. Use the money that would go to raising police budgets to fund community safety and crime prevention programs.

No but they should go through more training and be provided or required to take courses regarding race and other cultures to open their eyes and minds and to hopefully prevent more incidents requiring race to happen

No, but leave the budget for the police intact and draw funding from different parts of the city's budget

No, but police hiring and screening standards should be raised so that officers are effective but mindful of peoples needs and only use force as a very last resort

Change training or more strick psychological evaluations. The lack of help for the native population, specifically native woman that go missing and not enough is done.

Increase police funding to provide training and staffing able to deal with social and mental health issues more appropriately

You need to spend money on police and social programs together, until the effects of supporting people have been able to reduce crime. Police should not be dealing with people who need need support, not force. Police also should not be as militarized as they are becoming.

We should put more money into training police in higher crime city's and for lower put that money towards community based programs

yes depending on the city, for example the lethbridge police is a wonderful service to lethbridge that go above and beyond to help the community

No, rather funding should increase to provide extensive training to ensure our current and future Police workers can handle their great responsibility in a safe manner for everyone, especially for their own safety.

This should be a blended approach. Increase social programs but not at the cost of police, until the benefits have taken effect

use current funds to train police officers to better handle situations involving mental health issues and other nonviolent options to prevent crimes.

no, but it is better to rehabilitate criminals and make them functioning members of society instead of throwing them in jail

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

I believe that police should be funded into training- allowing police to learn asl and educated more on citizens needs are a must into becoming a policeman.

No, increase funding for the training of police departments and community programs to create a more positive relationship between the police and the public.

The police get paid for risking their lives in what they do. it doesn't make sense to take money away that they're getting for some other reasons.

Yes, but still fund local police departments & require all law enforcement officers follow a strict code of conduct.

There should be a balance of funding law enforcement AND redirect to social/community based programs.

Police units should be paired with social workers, mental health workers, etc. so they can go out on teams for suicide, domestic abuse, etc.

I think there is a middle ground. Where funds toward police can be minimized but not removed entirely.

Police should have lowered funding and if those funds were to go to better social and community programs that would be the most ideal solution.

Yes, but split the police into different departments that handle different types of violations (e.x: Highway patrol)

I think that we should lower the funding for police slightly and put more money towards rehabilitaion, counseling, etc so we have fewer criminals.

I think they should stop giving money to them and focus on the city/town if they make the place look good and do upgrades everywhere there would probably would be more tourist attractions and the crime rate would probably go down and our towns situation could be fixed with stealing and drugs.

Just make a budget that makes it possible to ensure that both areas get the funding required, this ensures that both are able to benefit as both are important to the community.

No. The government's job is to create laws and enforce them. The police are necessary and should receive much more funding.