Dear Aurora City Council,
I write to demand a reallocation of funding away from Aurora PD and into social and public programming that takes place in our communities.
I join the calls of those across the country to Defund the Police. With record unemployment and a seemingly intractable pattern of abuse and unequal treatment by police, we need a budget that adequately and effectively meets the needs of impacted Aurora residents. The Police Department’s 2020 budget increased by $7.0 million (5.7 percent) over the 2019 Budget, making for a total of $128,772,136. This is unacceptable, and I demand that the city council remedy this gross display of priorities. While we’ve been spending extraordinary amounts on policing, we have not seen improvements to safety, homelessness, mental health, or housing affordability in our city. Instead, we see wasteful and harmful actions of our police. You must support a budget that supports social equity in our community, rather than empowering the police forces that tear us apart.
Aurora, Colorado has a history of police violence against community members. In addition to being defunded, Aurora PD needs to be held accountable. I call on Mayor Coffman to open a new investigation into the officers Nathan Woodyard, Jason Rosenblatt, and Randy Roedema responsible for the death of Elijah McClain, and that each officer be taken off duty immediately.
It is your duty to represent your constituents. I am urging you to advocate for revision of the Aurora city budget for the upcoming fiscal year, reflecting the decades of research showing that education and social programs much better promote the safety of a city than policing.
Thank you for your time,
[YOUR NAME][YOUR ADDRESS]
[YOUR EMAIL][YOUR PHONE NUMBER]