GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — As community calls for defunding the Grand Rapids Police Department continue, some city commissioners are expressing an interest in reducing the police budget.
The approved budget for fiscal year 2021 allots over $55 million to GRPD, which is 38.6% of the city's general fund.
Per the city charter, the department is guaranteed no less than 32% of the city's general operating fund, which can be changed through an amendment process.
Second Ward Commissioner Joe Jones said a good first step is to cap the current funding at that level, which would be about $9.4 million less.
"I have very much taken on a mindset of wanting to be a part of the re-imagining of our department," Jones said during a virtual committee of the whole meeting Tuesday morning. "Simply because I know that it is what's needed for such a time as this."
Community organization Linc Up issued a call to action for leaders to commit to structural changes within the police department. As part of that, Linc Up called for at least 3% of the police department's budget to go toward the Office of Oversight and Public Accountability (OPA), which Jones and First Ward Commissioner Kurt Reppart both mentioned during the meeting.
The department is seeking funding for three additional full-time employees, one person to work with OPA, one public information officer for GRPD and a non-sworn chief of staff for GRPD. The costs of those three positions totals to about a half million dollar adjustment, and the funding can either be additional or redirected.
Jones said to him re-imagining the police department involves making the job easier for officers by having them not respond to calls for assistance regarding substance abuse, domestic violence and mental health.
"We need to continue down the path of perhaps having specialists," Jones said.
Reppart said he agreed with Jones' idea of using this as a chance to re-imagine public safety.
"It's an uncomfortable conversation. It requires a lot of humility. I believe that it's going to require co-creation from the community and the department," Reppart said. "I also think that to some degree there's not a whole lot of re-imagination possible unless we do look at the charter provision of 32%."
First Ward Commissioner Jon O'Connor said there needs to be buy-in from the police officers in order for change to work.
"We have a ton of great men and women doing the job every day, and they hold themselves to a high standard. They don't like it when other people make them look bad," he said. "I want to make sure that this dialogue is a two-way street, so that with whatever changes we come up with, there's buy-in from both sides."
Several community groups have called on the city to defund the police department. Together We Are Safe: Bridging the Gap is one of the groups pushing for funds to be reallocated specifically to black and brown communities.
Over 1,200 letters have been submitted through the group's initiative. An organizer with the group, LaDonna Norman, says they want to see funds redirected from the problem to the solution.
Norman says a year of GRPD funding could create opportunities in housing, food co-ops, new business startups and youth summer jobs.
"How could you put all this money in a police department that has a disconnect from the black and brown community?" Norman said in a phone interview Tuesday.
During the committee meeting, Second Ward Commissioner Milinda Ysasi said she believes the local calls for change are not coming solely in response to the death of George Floyd.
"I think the questions about where we are spending our money are not coming out of this one event, they are coming on the heels of the racial disparities that exist in our community," Ysasi said.
Third Ward Commissioners Senita Lenear and Nathaniel Moody asked for more information from both the department and the city on how plans and changes would be carried out.
City's next steps
The OPA will release a comprehensive report regarding the status of all prior community-police relation studies on July 7. That report along with budget amendments are expected to be brought up at the next commission meeting.
The City Attorney's Office says it will also provide a ruling within 30 days on whether the Civilian Appeal Board can have subpoena power, which is something the community has asked about.
Community members also asked for collective bargaining meetings to be made public, to which City Attorney Anita Hitchcock said both parties must agree for this to happen and that current contracts are not up until June 30, 2022.
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