Learning More

Short on Time?

These two references help explain a lot about our framework in a few minutes:

• A World Without Police Zine
  
• Defund Police: a 4-minute explainer video

City Commission Summaries

Because the Grand Rapids City Commission is neither accessible or transparent in its dealings with the police department or the public, Defund the GRPD posts regular, easy-to-read summaries after the meetings.  Catch those on our Facebook page.

Other Defund Organizations

Defund the GRPD is one of the many groups listed at defundthepolice.org, a one-stop-shop for anyone looking to learn more about defunding the police.

Voice of Abolition

Read in-depth from many voices about abolition at a site sponsored by Colin Kaepernick: https://level.medium.com/abolition-for-the-people-397ef29e3ca5

Ending Violence Without Police

How do we end violence without police? Transform Harm is a resource hub for the many folks doing that work: transformharm.org

Children's Book Giveaway

During the 2020 Holiday season, neither the pandemic nor police violence took a break. To support the community, the Defund the GRPD coalition raised money to offer families books for holiday gifts - books that talk about community care, organizing, and the stories of those families who are missing their loved ones. Over 200 children’s books were passed out so families could sit together, reading books and dreaming about a future where “we take care of us” - without police or prisons.  To support future book drives, you can contribute at tinyurl.com/GiveKidsBooks2.

Defund in other Cities

How has defunding the police worked in other cities?

In Austin, they’ve redirected police funds to housing people who were unhoused. 
In Minneapolis, $8 million was cut from the police department, and then $6.4 million was reinstated.  Having community care in place is an important part of this work, but Minneapolis has been engaging in community budgeting models.

Cities such as Portland, OR; Seattle, WA; Denver, CO, Dallas, TX have all cut their police budgets.  

Cities everywhere, including East Lansing and Ypsilanti Michigan, have cut the budgets for police in schools, or “school resource officers.”

You can read more at Appendix A, starting at p. 44, in the Defund the Police Update here.