Fitzpatrick Sponsors Bill Against Defunding Police

LANGHORNE, PA — Facing a re-election challenge in November, U.S. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick has sponsored a bill with bipartisan support that looks to make political hay off of the "Defund the Police" movement.

The Defund Cities That Defund the Police Act uses a strict definition of the term that differs from what U.S. communities are actually considering. It would cut off some federal grants to any local government that "abolishes or disbands the police department with no intention of reconstituting the jurisdiction’s police department" or heavily cuts a police department's budget "without reallocating a portion of that money to any other community policing program" unless the cuts are due to budget problems.

"Those calling for the defunding of the police as a serious policy prescription for improving police-community relations simply do not understand nor have placed themselves into the position of the on-duty police officer," Fitzpatrick, a former FBI agent, said in a written statement. "Our communities need the police, they should be fully funded, and their service deserves our respect. Calls to defund the police are irresponsible, misguided, and dangerous."

The Bucks County lawmaker's bill is co-sponsored by Rep. Anthony Brindisi, a Democrat from upstate New York, Republican Rep. Will Hurd, of Texas, and Rep. Jared Golden, a Democrat from Maine.

Amid Black Lives Matter protests in the wake of Floyd's death and other violent police incidents, calls to "defund" or "abolish" police departments have emerged. Politicians have seized on that language — including President Trump, who has repeatedly and falsely claimed his challenger, former Vice President Joe Biden, supports defunding police.

But, in almost all cases, what advocates are seeking is a shifting of government funding toward community-policing methods that take a more holistic approach, focusing on mental health, homelessness, poverty and other issues that can be related to crime.

"'Defund the police' means reallocating or redirecting funding away from the police department to other government agencies funded by the local municipality," Rayshawn Ray wrote for the Brookings Institute. "That's it. It's that simple. Defund does not mean abolish policing. And, even some who say abolish, do not necessarily mean to do away with law enforcement altogether. Rather, they want to see the rotten trees of policing chopped down and fresh roots replanted anew."

In his statement, Fitzpatrick says that with defunded police "crime would drastically increase. And with more crime comes more victims."

"Without the police, anarchy exists," said Robert Bray, president of the Bucks County Fraternal Order of Police, in a press release Fitzpatrick sent out when the bill was introduced last week.

In the same statement, Bray says governments should increase funding in areas that include "dealing with the mentally ill, training of police officers and meeting with community leaders to have those 'difficult' conversations regarding race and equality."

Critics point to the Minneapolis City Council's agreement to dismantle its police force in the wake of the death of George Floyd, who died in police custody there, as an example of a government abolishing police. But council members say their plan to do so is just part of an effort to rebuild policing in the city in a new image.

Council President Lisa Bender said the plan is to "re-create systems of public safety that actually keep us safe" and Councilman Jeremiah Ellison told NBC News that council members "are not going to hit the eject button without a plan, so today was the announcement of the formulation of that plan."

Dallas, Texas, New York City, Los Angeles, Salinas, Calif., Milwaukee, Wisc., and Camden, N.J. are among the communities who have experimented, to varying degrees, with programs that moved police funding into more public-health oriented efforts.

"Altogether, it is clear that municipalities across the U.S. are making changes in line with the defund police movement," Ray wrote in the Brookings piece. "So, while the word 'reallocate' may be a more palatable, digestible word on the House floor or at a city council meeting, 'defund' surely gets more attention on a protest sign."

A two-term Republican congressman from Langhorne, Fitzpatrick is being challenged for re-election by Ivyland Borough Council member Christina Finello, a Democrat. Polls released by Fitzpatrick's campaign show him with a double-digit lead, while Finello's camp has shared polls of their ownthat show the race as a statistical dead heat.