KPBS Midday Edition

What Does 'Defund The Police' Mean?

By Marissa Cabrera / News Producer, KPBS Midday Edition, Mark Sauer / Host, The Roundtable

Published June 8, 2020 at 12:19 PM PDT

This story was published more than 4 years ago.

San Diego police officers stand guard on Broadway near State Street in front of City Hall amid protests, May 31, 2020.

Christy Lopez, a professor at Georgetown Law School and a co-director of the school’s Innovative Policing Program, says "defunding the police" doesn't mean zeroing out budgets. It means to reduce the demands placed on police and shift funding to mental health care, housing and other social programs.

In the wake of the killing of George Floyd, the Minneapolis City Council voted over the weekend to dismantle its police force.

The calls to abolish or "defund" police departments are growing louder across the country, including in San Diego. Some protestors have said they support "defunding" the police and activists are urging the City Council to reject a proposed increase to the police department and redirect money to other services.

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But what is the "defund the police" movement about?

Christy Lopez, a professor at Georgetown Law School and a co-director of the school’s Innovative Policing Program, says "defunding the police" doesn't mean zeroing out budgets. It means to reduce the demands placed on police and redirect funding to mental health care, housing and other social programs. Critics argue reductions in funding would make cities less safe.

Lopez, who wrote about the topic in the Washington Post, joined Midday Edition on Monday to explain why "defunding" the police is may not be as radical as it sounds.

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Marissa Cabrera

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Marissa Cabrera worked as a producer for KPBS Midday Edition and had previously served as a Newscast Producer for KPBS' Morning Edition. Before joining KPBS she reported on Vatican affairs, social, and cultural issues in Rome, Italy. She also contributed to a documentary on sex abuse in the Catholic Church. Marissa has worked as a multimedia journalist at various news stations in San Diego and Monterey as well as Columbia, Missouri. Marissa graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a bachelor's degree in broadcast journalism.

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Mark Sauer

A newspaperman for more than 30 years, Mark Sauer joined KPBS in October 2010 and previously served as the host of the KPBS Roundtable. He spent 27 years as a reporter and editor at The San Diego Union-Tribune after stints at The Houston Post and at two papers in his native Michigan. A features/human-interest writer in the UT's Currents section for many years, Mark also spent about a third of his UT career as an editor and reporter on the Metro Desk. He has covered a wide range of events: Wild fires in Southern California and Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast; Super Bowls and the World Series; foster care and child-abuse issues; the Roman Catholic Diocese's sexual-abuse scandal and bankruptcy; royal visits of Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles and Princess Diana; Republican and Democratic national conventions; high-profile criminal trials; and many other stories, from the silly to the sublime. Along the way, he interviewed everyone from presidents to pan-handlers. His work exposing the false accusations and prosecutions of several San Diegans for murder, rape and child abuse garnered Pulitzer Prize nominations and many regional and local journalism awards, including Best in the West, the Sol Price Award for Responsible Journalism and several San Diego and California bar-association awards. Mark has a degree in journalism from Michigan State University.

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