In Dallas, the police force has faced several sharp cuts to their overtime budget. There is nothing to lament here; this decision was rightly made. Defunding police and relocating funds to other sectors of the government will be a beneficial step for reducing police brutality and overall crime.

It looks like Dallas has started to slide back the other way, with the approval of a 2023 budget that will increase police funds by more than $40 million, and this is a bad sign that we could be returning to a situation where police have too much power.

An urgent need for reform that reevaluates the duties and limits of the police has arisen. There have been sparks of protest across the nation and countless demands for action to be taken to hold the police force accountable. Policymakers have been called upon to take stern steps and “rethink the role of the police.”

2020 saw the reallocation of $7 million in cuts from the $24 million budget that was allotted for the police. The police budget as a whole already exceeded $500 million.

This move did not come to fruition spontaneously. It found roots in the steady, aggressive outcries of the public against police injustice that have gone unheard for too long. We don’t want more police on the streets without any oversight that will keep them on the straight and narrow. But we do want society to grow and improve its safety measures while preventing crimes from happening in the first place.

The idea of defunding the police isn’t as severe as it may seem to those against the bill. The funds have better places they can be allocated to. $1 million of those funds was slated for better lighting for public areas. That is one way to help prevent crime. We are making decisions designed to improve safety across Dallas. Distribution of funds to other areas can put into effect measures that will improve safety and mitigate crime.

No matter who we fund or how, our goal is to promote “protecting public safety.” There are different ways to do just that. What the Council found useful is allocating the overtime pay of the police to different areas for the benefit of the people at large.

We need to focus on taking care of the public and their safety, not how the police have been demonetized. The reform was much needed, so why should we backslide now that we have made progress? Reallocation of the police budget is the need of the hour.