Dear Beacon City Council and Mayor,
My name is [YOUR NAME] and I am a Beacon resident and writing to urge you to defund the Beacon Police Department.
The Beacon Police department currently has a budget of $5.5 Million. That has increased $700,000 in the past 6 years while other services have been cut or kept the same. That's about 25% of our total budget for a town of roughly 15K people, taking away desperately needed resources from essential city programs and services.
I demand that the Mayor and City Council begin meaningfully defunding the Beacon Police Department and re-allocate those funds to programs proven to more effectively promote a safe and equitable community: our public schools and after-school programs, a recreation center, emergency health center, community-based mental health services, affordable housing programs, and more. I demand a budget that reflects the actual needs of Beacon residents.
History has shown that police βreformβ is not enough. We must take a hard look at the ways that the current system in place fails to serveβand in fact actively harmsβour community, and come together to reimagine the role of police in our city.
Thank you for your time,
[YOUR NAME][YOUR ADDRESS]
[YOUR EMAIL][YOUR PHONE NUMBER]