In the Media

WASHINGTON (SBG) - In the wake of nationwide calls to defund the police, government officials in several major U.S. cities have made significant cuts to their local police budgets, part of a sweeping police reform effort sparked by the death of George Floyd.

The movement to defund police departments began in Minneapolis shortly after Floyd's death in late May. Two months later, the Minneapolis City Council moved $1.1 million out of the police department's budget, according to MPR News.

Mayor Bill de Blasio on Friday again invoked what’s been his mantra for months: He expects cops to use “the lightest touch possible” as demonstrators take to the streets amid post-Election Day uncertainty.

But some New Yorkers who have been participating in anti-racism and anti-brutality marches since the spring say that after recent weeks of relative calm cops are back to heavy-handed, sometimes brutal tactics.

Police unions in the tri-state region are fighting to block new measures that would give the public access to law-enforcement discipline records, which have long been confidential.

Lawmakers and officials in New York, New Jersey and Connecticut enacted new policing disclosure laws and policies in recent months, amid nationwide protests calling for greater accountability. Advocates who support such changes say police officers entrusted to use lethal force should be subject to greater transparency and held responsible for misconduct.

An external study of the NYPD’s neighborhood policing program, which Mayor Bill de Blasio and NYPD leadership have promised for years, has been delayed because of the pandemic, according to the company conducting the review. The results of the study, which is supposed to provide empirical support for one of de Blasio’s signature initiatives that he regularly credits for what he says are improved police-community relations, were originally due in mid-2021 and it’s currently unclear when they will be released.