Defund the County Sheriff
Fund Community Health
Despite a steadily falling county population and crime rate, Broome County has more than doubled its incarceration rate and doubled its jail budget. Meanwhile the county has cut health programs by over 50% and made the jail its local treatment center. The jail is staffed to incarcerate 600 persons at an annual cost of $30 million but stands half empty and last month had only 37 persons convicted and sentenced for any crime.
Who is in the jail and why? Local officials report that 80 percent of the persons in the jail have mental health and substance use problems. Racial and gender disparities in the jail and policing are extreme. The vast majority of police calls and arrests are for health problems and minor misdemeanors, not violent criminal matters: fewer than 7 percent of all arrests are for alleged violent felonies. We have far far more armed police and jail cells than we need.
It is time to recalculate, to defund mass incarceration and mass policing, and fund community health.
In the next three years we should
Defund the Jail Budget by 70% ($21 million savings/year)
- Close jail pods, end solitary confinement, reduce staffing
- Reduce administrative staff
- End the incarceration of persons with disabilities and health crises
Defund the Sheriff’s Administration and Patrol Budget by 50% ($4.8 million savings/year)
- Reduce administrative staff
- End armed police response to and control over responses to non-violent health crises
- Sell surplus vehicles, scrap weapons and armored personnel carriers
- End cops in schools ($1.3+ million county-wide)
- End SWAT and War on Drug Teams
- Close the training division
Invest the $25 million/year savings in community health and peace programs
- Counselors and health specialists in schools and youth programs
- Community Health and De-escalation Intervention Teams
- Community-based Health Treatment
- Community Oversight of Sheriff and Jail Operations a