The reality of defunding the police

If you were wondering what "defunding" the police really looks like... it looks kinda like this (as reported by the Calgary Sun):

Shifting $20 million from the Calgary police budget to address gaps in crisis and outreach services will be on the table during city council’s budget deliberations later this month.

Council approved a motion late Tuesday night that asks city officials to bring information about reallocating $10 million of Calgary Police Service funding in both 2021 and 2022 for a new “community safety investment framework.”

[...]

Council voted 9-5 in favour of the motion, which was initially proposed by Coun. Evan Woolley and supported by Mayor Naheed Nenshi and councillors George Chahal and Gian-Carlo Carra.

[...]

Woolley said council needs to have a deeper conversation about the police budget after a July public hearing on systemic racism heard concerns from Calgarians who are Black, Indigenous and people of colour.

“The lived experiences for many of our citizens and their struggles have been taking place for generations,” Woolley said. “What started in July, though, was our public acknowledgment that racism exists in our institutions and in our government, and it is important that we not only make statements but take meaningful steps to respond.”

Police leadership broached the possibility of reallocation themselves in September as part of their commitment to anti-racism. [...] Chief Mark Neufeld has said police may not be the best first responders for things like a mental health crisis.

A few things struck me about all of this.

First, there's the way in which everybody involved here, including the Calgary Sun, the Calgary Police, and Calgary's politicians, are treating this as a totally normal and reasonable thing to be doing. Calgary is a more diverse metropolitan area than some parts of Alberta, but it's still pretty solidly Conservative country as far as the political spectrum goes, and there was a real possibility that Trumpian identity politics would infect the process; that didn't happen.

The second is the measured, just-the-facts-ma'am tone of the Sun's piece itself. The Calgary Sun is a right-wing tabloid, with a editorial slant that makes the New York Post look progressive by comparison. I was actually slightly shocked to realize that the Sun's masthead was on the article, but even the Sun just... reported on the facts, this time. I guess those facts must not be in dispute.

And third... we're doing it, people! Calgary is taking a leading role in this shift from heavily armed psychiatric response, towards something a little more compassionate and, dammit, just plain human. It makes me feel proud of my city when shit like this happens.