Defunding not happening at area police departments, but budgets affected by calls for change

Law enforcement tactics and funding became the focus of numerous protests in the past year, following the deaths of George Floyd and other people of color at the hands of police.

But despite calls to rein in law enforcement spending and "defund" police, WRAL Investigates found local communities holding the line on police budgets and even increasing them for fiscal 2021-22 from the current year. Only Chapel Hill’s police budget saw a reduction from last year’s revised budget, including cutting 15 patrol officer positions that were vacant.

"The word 'defund' is something that has been sensationalized, and it’s scary to a lot of people. But in actuality, it’s just re-imagining what safety looks like," Durham activist Skip Gibbs said. "I don’t want to live in a place where there’s no police officers. I want to live in a place where the police aren’t the first priority."

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Unlike some who truly want police budgets eliminated, Gibbs said spending on law enforcement should better reflect community needs. He cited as an example Durham's new police headquarters, which is right across the street from public housing.

"That contrast made me angry," he said. "Let’s take some of that money and put it where we’re actually going to see a return and actually see something happen instead of just more uniforms [and] more guns."

Raleigh Mayor Mary-Ann Baldwin said she believes officers in riot gear helped escalate tensions with protesters last year that devolved into violence and looting. Those confrontations "absolutely" helped city officials learn there’s a better to police, she said.

The city's 2021-22 budget added sworn officers for a unit to patrol greenways and parks, but it also funds a pilot project called the ACORNS team in which crisis counselors will accompany police officers on mental health calls.

"There are times, perhaps, when a person doesn’t need to see an officer with a handgun," Baldwin said, adding that she hopes the teams will improve police interactions with citizens.

"If they see someone there approaching them with kindness and saying, 'We want to help you,' their response could be very different," she said. "It’s all about deescalation."

Durham's new city budget moved funding for five police officer positions to a new Community Safety Department, which will send unarmed first responders to nonviolent 911 calls, such as mental health situations, minor traffic incidents and alarm systems going off.

"No one is suggesting that police are the panacea any moreso than buying a fire engine is going to stop fires, but it’s part of the equation," Durham City Councilman Mark Anthony Middleton said.

Middleton said Durham needs a combination of armed officers and social workers.

"I want to have the option of sending unarmed mental health responders," he said. "But I also want the option of sending a SWAT team if white supremacists storm this building in the city center."

Gibbs called the new department a start, but he’d like to see more.

"It’s always a proposal. It’s always an idea, but never an action," he said. "Let’s take about $10 million, not just $1 million. Let’s take about $15 million [and] invest in those social workers [and] invest in those safety programs."

With public pressure changing the way police budgets are shaped, Middleton said he hopes it’s the start of new type of law enforcement,

"We are at an inflection point in the United States. Things cannot be the same as they were," he said.