Message: [Don't forget to replace the [x]'s with your information, and consider adding a couple of sentences in your own words to ensure this message gets past email filters.]
Dear Mayor Vierra and Ceres City Council Members,
My name is [YOUR NAME] and Iām a resident of Ceres. I am writing to demand that the Ceres City Council adopt a budget that prioritizes community wellbeing, and redirects funding away from the police.
I am asking the Ceres City Council to commit to racial justice and to not be complicit in further promoting a system of policing that reinforces systemic oppression. To do so, I demand funding for the police department be redirected elsewhere. In 2019, this fiscal year, police services were allocated over $14 million in funding. This means a single department received one-fifth of the total city budget. This subsidy promotes, rather than dismantles, a system based in racial and class inequality.
Research has repeatedly shown that it is not the police (or prisons) that promote community safety. Rather, it is affordable housing, educational opportunities, community violence intervention programs, and access to holistic health treatment that do so. Misdemeanors and lawbreaking are often caused by unsupportive environments, and policing and incarceration only further contribute to financial and mental instability. I urge you to support funding for departments that prioritize your constituents rather than aggressively funding a system far beyond repair.
Can I count on you to consider an alternative budget that, rather than emphasizing law enforcement, defunds it and reallocates funding to social services with a proven impact on the welfare of your constituents, such as housing and education?
Thank you,
[YOUR NAME][YOUR ADDRESS]
[YOUR EMAIL][YOUR PHONE NUMBER]