Over the last few months several protesters have marched past BPD headquarters asking for structural changes within the department.
(Payton Knobeloch)
The Bloomington Police Department proposed its nearly $15 million budget for 2021 in front of the city council and more than 200 community members Tuesday night.
In that proposal, BPD said one of its goals is to put more emphasis on community outreach.
Councilmember Isabel Piedmont-Smith said even though it would be a gradual process, she’s pleased to see the department making the effort.
“I think the BPD’s budget proposal is a significant step in the right direction in that it reduces the funded sworn officer positions from 105 to 100," Piedmont-Smith said.
Five new civilian positions will be added to the force including two additional Neighborhood Resource Specialists, two additional Police Social Workers, and another data analyst.
Police Chief Mike Diekhoff said the addition of the Stride Center will also assist the department in its community outreach.
"We now have a place that we can take people to that may not have committed some minor offense, but are in some kind of crisis that they need help," Diekoff said.
The Stride Center is scheduled to open sometime next week.
One of the major budget concerns the council had durign the presentation was the proposal for $15,000 earmarked for gas masks.
Chief Diekhoff said these would be used in the event where tear gas is administered to break up large crowds.
“We have access to it, but we have not used it," Diekhoff said. "I can’t think of a time when we’ve ever used it."
Several council members questioned whether there is a need for the tear gas or the masks, if it’s not essential.
"Defunding Police"
Another topic during the hearing was the concept of "defunding the police."
Several family members of BPD officers said there’s an enormous amount of pressure on them with all the tasks their asked to fill, and that defunding the department wouldn't be wise.
"There's a fundamental misunderstanding of what 'defunding the police' actually looks like," member of Black Lives Matter Bloomington Jada Bee said.
Bee said reallocating money and time toward social services will actually take some of the burden off police officers.
“They wouldn’t be so stressed out. They wouldn’t have to be social workers, a harm reduction care worker, or a mental health specialist. They could focus on the thing that they’re trained for, which is law enforcement," Bee said.
City council said its public safety committee will meet on Wednesday, August 26, and people will have another opportunity to talk about future changes to local law enforcement.
"I think there are a lot of parts to this that need answers, and that's why we have this time between now and the final budget discussions in late September," council president Steve Volan said.
The entire 2021 budget proposal can be found here on the city's website. BPD's budget requests are on pages 116-30.
