Defund the Dearborn Police

Maintaining Dearborn Police Department at its current funding level comes at the expense of vital city services. We are no longer willing to bear the financial and moral burden of funding the Dearborn Police Department. We demand our City Officials take steps towards actively reducing the Dearborn Police Department budget.

Eliminate the Minimum Staffing Provision

The minimum staffing provision in Dearborn’s city charter effectively locks the City of Dearborn’s budget into high levels of policing. In 2011 the State of Michigan passed a measure that banned local municipalities from incorporating minimum staffing provisions into local charters. The City of Dearborn has maintained this illegal minimum staffing provision, and uses it to justify the city’s high levels of police spending.

Eliminate Police Department Operations Most Harmful to Our Communities

Dearborn Police Department invests the largest proportion of its resources into proactive patrolling -- a practice that has been shown to actively harm communities. Patrolling destabilizes communities, and places citizens under unnecessary surveillance. We recommend the immediate elimination of the Border Crimes Initiative Team and the immediate cessation of the park-and-walk program.

We deman the city also:

• Order police to stop enforcing low-level offenses like Driving While License Suspended.

• Create non-police responses to issues of faulty equipment (ie vouchers for repair).

• Order the City Attorney to stop prosecuting minor offenses.

• Condition Court funding on reducing fines and fees. End the practice of issuing warrants for minor changes.

Remove Municipal and Human Services from the Purview of the Police Department

The Dearborn Police Department is currently responding to many calls that other communities provide through municipal and human services. These activities can be shifted away from the police department and moved into the jurisdiction of personnel who are not also tasked with enforcing criminal codes.