Defunding the Police

Spring 2020 Capstone research paper
Topic- Defunding the Police, Due Friday, November 20th

George Floyd’s death has changed the way we; the American citizen looks at the funding of our Police Departments. These turbulent times has galvanized America to demand police reforms. Allocating funds, tax dollars away from the police and toward other public services has been the topic of discussion since we all saw the horrible video of George Floyd being killed on the street in Minneapolis.
As you may know from this week’s Discussion Forum (link below), Governor Andrew Cuomo is requiring all New York State Police Department’s to reform toward defunding their departments. If these departments don’t reform and defund, they won’t be eligible for much needed NYS funding.
https://www.newsday.com/long-island/task-force-protests-cuomo-suffolk-police-1.49102913?fbclid=IwAR2RkDP5AE2-uDaV84L0HniItU5SywBhiL_cB363UIA-pU0dHeGro_9tCu4
New York City Police Department has already made massive cuts. The July recruit hiring of 2000 new Police Officers was cancelled. The NYPD disbanded the Anti-Crime, plain clothes units in all 77 Precincts, 12 Transit Districts and 9 Police Service Areas. The NYPD has abruptly disbanded the Homeless Outreach Unit and is looking to disband the School Safety Division. This at a time when crime is skyrocketing to levels we haven’t seen since the 1990’s. The homeless problem in New York City is at its worst, yet the Homeless Outreach Unit was disbanded.
Since the topic of Defunding the Police is at the forefront of the Criminal Justice System, the topic of your research paper will be “Defunding the Police”. I want you to put yourselves in the Suffolk County Police Commissioner, Geraldine Hart, or Nassau County Police Department Commissioner, Patrick Ryder. I want you to come up with your own plan to defund your department without putting the public at risk (this won’t be easy). For example, disbanding the Police Mounted Unit and using that money to form a youth group targeted at risk youth. Another example would be to disband the police aviation unit, sell the helicopters and hire counselors and social workers to respond to non-emergency calls for service, i.e. mentally disturbed people. I want you to come up with your own reform, don’t use mine.
Once you come with your plan to reduce taxpayer money away from your department and into community programs, I want you to research how your program will increase police and community relationships. For example, you reduced the population of the Suffolk County Riverhead Correctional Facility by 75%. The money you saved by no longer housing 75% of the prisoners, you started a free pre-school program for all of Suffolk County. How did that free pre-school help the individual student become more apt to be college bound.
Use your three (3) sources to back up your reform idea.
Written Research Paper format:
The written research paper will be a minimum three (3) page typewritten report in APA format (American Psychological Association). The cover page and the reference page do not count within the three-page minimum. This report must be double spaced, Times New Roman, 12-point font. You must use at least two (2) sources for your research. However, use as many sources as you like to complete your paper. These sources may be comprised of previous Criminal Justice textbooks; specific subject matter books or peer reviewed Journal Articles. Appropriately citing sources and references is important to ensure that issues of plagiarism do not arise. Evidence of plagiarism will result in immediate failure of the course. If you have problems or need assistance there are resources available to you on campus, including, but not limited to: The Rose Tehan Memorial Writing Center, located in the Islip Arts Building, room# 101. Additionally, there are numerous online guides and tutorials available. If you need further assistance, do not hesitate to contact me.