On the July 1st, 2020 News Now newscast, our very own Avi Critz wrote up a report and even spoke to Mayor Blake Inscore with a simple question: what does defunding the police mean, and what does it mean for us here?

Now, there’s a lot to unpack. Avi Critz succinctly summarizes what Defunding the Police means in metropolitan areas, in the areas where police budgets are immense and where we have seen the highest demand for defunding, especially in the wake of the murders of George Floyd, Breona Taylor, Ahmaud Marquez Arbery, and many others.

As Avi Critz brings up, however, these tend to happen in much larger metropolitan areas where the police don’t live in or understand the neighborhoods they patrol. That’s quite different from our small town where we know quite well who our police officers are—and Avi would know, having had a college math class with our very own Sheriff Apperson.

Regardless of where you stand and your depth of understanding on what defunding the police entails, we strongly recommending watching this report. What does it mean? Where does the defunded money go, and how could it help us? Where does the budget for our officers go? What are other programs that could take over problems law enforcement can’t working with? Here’s what Avi Critz and Mayor Blake Inscore have to say.