NEW ORLEANS — Protests in New Orleans continue, as activists call for racial equality, justice, and defunding the New Orleans Police Department.
But what does that mean? We sat down with one of the leaders of the Defund NOPD movement, Sade Dumas of the Orleans Parish Prison Reform Coalition, to learn more about the complex and controversial idea.
“Defunding the police really means reallocating funds. So, we’re going to take those funds from systems that we know don’t keep us safe, and we’re going to put it to things that will keep us safe,” said Dumas.
“Defund is a harsh word, right? We could have said ‘reallocate’, we could have said ‘redistribute’. We’ve been saying those words for years. And at this point, we can’t use fluffy language anymore because people are being killed by the police.”
Activists make the appeal that if we focus on care and communities, maybe we just won’t need robust police departments. They’re calling for high police budgets to be reallocated to things like housing, social work, and early childhood education.
Eliminating poverty, Dumas said, goes hand in hand with eliminating crime.
“We have areas with high crime, but we also see there’s a lot of poverty there. So, sending the police there to react to something that has already happen does not keep us safe, but being proactive -- not with proactive policing -- but with proactive care, can actually keep us safe,” said Dumas.
NOPD’s approved 2020 budget is just over 194-million dollars, making up about 27 percent of the city’s overall budget of 725.6 million dollars.
The budget for NOPD in 2020 increased by about two million dollars over 2019. The department cut funding for several districts and departments, including fiscal managements, and the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 8th districts. It redistributed more cash for recruiting and special ops.
Chief Sean Ferguson defends the department’s improvements in its seven years under consent decree.
“We are ahead of the game with procedural justice. We require de-escalation. We do not do chokeholds. We do not allow using our knee in any certain way or fashion,” said Chief Ferguson during a press conference on June 8th.
Dumas takes issue not with the behavior, but with the budget.
“In New Orleans, most of our officers are African American, right? So we’re not saying we see a lot of white cops beating black people. That’s not the situation here,” said Dumas. “But we are saying, this is a system that’s harmful.”
Dismantling a system doesn’t come overnight, and no elected official has committed to standing with protesters on this issue.
However, they’re hopeful that leaders are listening and will reflect their support as they assemble the 2021 city budget.
“We’re committed to going to all of the budget hearings. We’re committing to letting our voices be heard. Because our elected officials are there because we trust them to take care of us,” she said.
“We have to protest for many years to get out of this, we will. And we’re not only going to protest in the streets, we’re going to protest at city hall, in council chambers. We’re going to protest in the mayor’s office. We’re going to do what it takes to liberate New Orleanians, to make New Orleanians safe, and to care for families and children.”
You can watch our full conversation with Dumas here.
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
