Halifax police board says it needs more time to define defunding the police

After a lengthy meeting Thursday, Halifax's board of police commissioners say they need more time and possibly a committee to define what defunding the police means.

"No, I'm not comfortable dealing with this today," said Coun. Lisa Blackburn.

As a result, the board did not vote on a staff definition that said defundingthe police included:

• Policeperformingpolicing functions.
• Devoting "appropriate resources" to performing non-police functions.
• Investing in resources that "support community risks and promote crime prevention."

"I have noidea where that motion came from," said Coun Tony Mancini.

After two hours of discussionwhich forced a dozen other items to be put off to the next meeting the board proposed setting up a committee to come up with a definition of police defunding. This idea will be discussed at a July 20 meeting.

Police commission chair Natalie Borden made it clear a definition was needed before any decisions can be made about reallocating money.

"Once we've figured out our philosophy and definition, there needs to be further discussions about priorities," she said.

Finding the right balance

Commissioner Carlos Beals said there needs to be a better balance of funding between proactivecrime prevention programs and the reactive response of policing.

"There needs to be a happy medium," he said. "Right now, the budget for HRP[Halifax Regional Police] and the RCMP is about $89 million and the Youth Advocate Program gets $600,000."

The municipality bills the program as helping prevent youth who are nine to 15 "from engaging in anti-social and criminal behaviours."

DeRico Symonds, the manager of the Youth Advocate Program, and Amy Siciliano, the head of the city's public safety office, said municipalprograms that could benefit from police defunding includeYouth Live, Girls United, youth centres such as "The Den"in Lower Sackville and the UN Safe Cities program for girls and women.

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