Organizers urge those who marched against racism to join call to defund police

Local organizers want those who marched against anti-Black racism last week to keep up the momentum by joining a letter-writing campaign that urges officials to defund police and put more money into social programs and services. 

As a starting point, at least $29.3 million should be trimmed from the current Waterloo Regional Police Service budget, according to Fitsum Areguy and Ruth Cameron, who are both with the African, Caribbean and Black Network of Waterloo Region.

That funding would do more for the community by paying for arts and recreation programs, housing, seniors' services and more, they said. 

"We're hoping that people in Waterloo region become imaginative, and think about what a future could look like without the police," said Areguy, who is with the ACB Network advisory committee. He said the organization is working with Black Lives Matter Waterloo Region and the African Community Wellness Initiative to make the call for defunding.

They also want to keep resource officers out of local schools, and to end the police service's community outreach program. The outreach program increases surveillance of young people in neighbourhoods such as Centreville Chicopee, Kingsdale, Chandler-Mowat and Mill-Courtland, and doesn't make them any safer, Areguy says.

Email your officials, organizers say

To that end, the group has drafted a template email and is asking people to personalize the message and send it to members of the police services board, regional councillors and school board trustees. 

So far, Areguy said he hasn't tracked how many people have sent these emails but he hopes to see a similar level of uptake that was on display at last week's march.

"We're asking for people to get past the honeymoon phase [and] to actually do something," he said.

Karen Redman, who is both regional chair and police services board chair, and Waterloo Regional Police Chief Bryan Larkin were unavailable for comment on the matter Monday.

The average household in Waterloo region will pay about $663 in taxes in 2020 for policing, up from $635 in 2019. 

New model for community safety

Last week, Chief Larkin told CBC's The Morning Edition he agrees that addressing poverty and a lack of affordable housing is needed to decrease crime. He also said police are working to diversify the service through targeted recruitment. He said the service provides mandatory training about implicit bias and Indigenous issues, and is in the process of rolling out anti-Black racism training.  

Cameron, who is part of the ACB Network steering committee, said she doesn't think a diverse workforce would make policing any safer.

"Saying you want a diverse police force just means a diverse group of individuals that can harm you," she said.

She said that's why the region needs to move toward a new model of community safety that "isn't about a policing model and escalation." Putting money toward meeting people's needs would also cut down on petty crime, she said.

"Individuals and families in neighbourhoods that are over-policed have great ideas about how they can look out for one another and how they can support one another, in ways that don't involve a punitive approach," said Cameron.

'We can be historic'

Areguy pointed out that Waterloo region is known for innovation, and was a leader in bringing in its blue box recycling program. He hopes that same innovative spirit will be applied in creating policing alternatives. 

"I think this is an area where we can once again be ahead of the curve, once again we can be historic," he said.

Moving forward, Areguy said he hopes regional councillors will listen to the community's feedback, think carefully about how local funds should be spent and use their discretion to reject police budgets that demand a disproportionate amount of local tax dollars. But, he and Cameron said, it's everyone's responsibility to reflect on the current moment and push for change.

"All of us together can think about the society we want to build going forward in hopes that we can alleviate the suffering that's going on right now," said Cameron.