HomeMy WebLinkAbout06-11-20 Public Comment - M. Perrins - Budget for Public SafetyFrom:Madison Perrins
To:Agenda
Subject:budget
Date:Thursday, June 11, 2020 2:41:05 PM
To Whom It May Concern:
I commend the city of Bozeman for choosing to allocate funds for the Community-Based Crisis Response Program, and
believe more can be done. I call on the city to continue in this vein and reallocate funds to create positions for non-violent
specialists to handle duties that are typically shouldered by the police force: performing homeless services, responding to
calls for mental health crises, performing social work and welfare checks, and mediating domestic disputes. Looking even
further to the future, part of the police’s major objectives is to proactively deter criminal activity, and that can be
accomplished by allocating funds towards social services and housing services that eliminate the circumstances that create
crime.
The natural counter argument may be to reform training for existing officers—but reform won’t stop police from illegally killing
citizens, as we have seen in communities larger than ours. It also doesn’t address the circumstances that create criminal
behavior. As Bozeman grows and becomes more diverse, I don’t believe that death or violence towards citizens should be
an inevitable precipitate for building the world we want to live in right now. The community is invested in true public safety—
let’s build a budget that makes it possible.
Thank you for your time,
Madison Perrins