Please do not de-fund the police department. I have lived in Culver City for over 30 years and have bragged to everybody that I know of what a great police department we have and feel very safe knowing they are protecting the business and residents and especial my family. To de-fund would curtail their effectiveness which I’m not in favor of doing.

Defunding the police is only a political munipulation and will not fix current issues.

To the City Council,

I know that witnessing the horrific actions of the Minneapolis police force makes all of us want to leap into action and try to prevent something like that from accruing again. But, unfortunately knee-jerk reactions do not always produce the desired out come and often lead to devastating results. We, the diverse citizens of Culver City, deserve the right to have full and thorough discussions and input on large and far reaching actions as “defunding the police”.

Making adjustments to the police force is far too important an issue not to take time and research the situation thoroughly to determine best corse of action. Our Culver City Police force has a stellar reputation. We should always hold them to a high standard and make sure the are treating every citizen with respect. As you know, due to the failings of our neighboring city crime is up. Homelessness is up. Their situation is putting pressure on Culver City. Now is the time to be very carful in making any large decisions.

I would also like to point out that the City of Los Angles has once again sought to placate and mislead the people of there city rather then provide real help. They actually didn’t “defund the police.” The city of Los Angeles canceled a 150 million supplemental increase of police budget, they didn’t reduce the police budget at all. That amount is also negligible in respect to the size of the budget. It’s political mumbo jumbo.

I agree that we must always be very diligent about racism, sexism and any human rights issues. I have spent a lot of my life doing just that. We are a diverse city. I urge the Council to take it’s time to determine what real actions Culver City can do to make sure it is a leader in human rights. Defunding the police will not fix the issues at hand it is a red herring.

I am a 2nd generation immigrant from Italy. My family is biracial and part of the LGBT community. We are affected by many of the issues of the day. I would be more then willing to discuss some of our family perspective with the Council.

Thank you for your time reading this letter and your service to the people of Culver City.

Best, Scott Mellini

I am a Culver City Resident and I am writing to express support Culver City Action Network’s proposal which includes:

Start to #DefundPoice by shrinking CCPD’s budget. We propose an additional 17%, $7.65 million reduction beyond the current proposed budget, with the funds to be reallocated to meeting community needs in ways outside the PD’s control.

Establish community control by including policing squarely within the General Plan Update process, subjecting it to oversight by a robust, independent commission with jurisdiction over public safety, and requiring immediate PD implementation of the California Racial & Identity Profiling Act. Thank you! Meta Valentic

As someone born and rasied in Culver City, it is past time we defund the police and reinvest money where it is actually helpful and supportive. While we are appreciative that this has made it onto the agenda, the My Brother's Keeper Alliance Mayor's Pledge is simply a call for police reform, something that has been implemented and failing for decades. It is simply not enough to reform the Culver City Police Department, which assumes that police officers already follow the rules they currently work under, which they don't. Any reforming of police departments usually require an increase in budget for things like "implicit-bias trainings" and use of force trainings, which have been implemented by several departments across the country, yet police murder unarmed Black civilians consistently every year. The only just way forward is to divest from policing and punishment, and invest in our schools, housing, mental health, and into the people.

The people who feel the least safe with CCPD are the ways who's neighborhoods are most regularly patrolled by them. The folks who believe CCPD are necessary for public safety are the ones who can walk their streets every day without a heavy police presence. We don't need police, we need city leadership who is invested in protecting people and not property. It is long a overdue demand: defund the police and reinvest that 38% of Culver City's general fund into things we actually need.

From another person raised in Culver City—I completely agree with Lindsey Eichenberger's comment. Defund the police.

As somebody who has been stopped without cause by CCPD officers, and has had numerous family members and friends pulled over, questioned, patted down, and otherwise harassed by CCPD, I can tell you that the CCPD budget has been bloated for decades, it is time to defund. I am blessed that no permanent harm was done to my loved ones by these armed officers, but this is due no doubt in large part to myself and my family members being white—their treatment of Black and Indigenous folks especially has been extraordinarily unjust. We cannot wait until Culver City is on the national news because of another police murder. We must defund and work towards creating community where police do not replace our social fabric. They offer us no peacekeeping, only the potential for violence—it is incredibly dangerous to pretend these are the same thing when they are nearer to opposites.

Dear Members of City Council,

My name is Tavleen Tarrant and I support CCAN demands to increase civilian oversight and re-allocate police funding to much needed social services.

I, like many others I have spoken to , am alarmed to see that 38 percent of this city’s general funds go towards the police. Furthermore, the proposed budget for the police department for 2020-2021 is $44,958,944, a slightly smaller reduction from the over 46 million dollar budget that the police department had from 2019-2020. Meanwhile, community development had a budget of just a little over 9 million in 2019-2020 for example. How exactly is this money being used and does the police of a town with a population of just over 39,000 people really need this budget? When looking at the police scorecard rating, Culver city has a D+ rating at 68 percent. Black people make up 8 percent of the CC population and yet comprise 39% of arrests. Meanwhile, White individuals make up 48 % of the town’s population and yet only 18 percent of arrests. Not to mention that most of the arrests in CC are for misdeamnors and not violent crimes anyway based on the Police Scorecard rating. This is incredibly concerning and it is very easy to see why so many Black and Brown individuals have their own stories of negative interactions with CC police or have been warned by relatives to never enter through Culver City due to the reputation of the CC police. One needn't look far and wide for these complaints mind you. I have heard stories all over social media from Black individuals who felt unsafe around CCPD. Recently, there was a video put out by Disney+ on Facebook where an attorney bravely shared his negative encounter with CCPD. On Yelp, there are a plethora of 1 star reviews from people claiming to have been racially profiled by CCPD.

This is an example of one comment I found

"My husband and brother were pulled over around 11:30pm on their way to pick up a friend from the airport. The officers told them they were pulled over because they had trouble seeing the brake light. There is a For Sale sign in the rear window. After being pulled over the officers asked them if they were in a Gang and asked them whether they had been to jail. What does that have to do with a brake light? RACIAL PROFILING IS AN INJUSTICE."

This is just the tip of the iceberg, there are so many more stories out there just like this one.

Thus, in conclusion. I support CCAN demands to #defundthepolice and would like to highlight the People’s Budget Los Angeles as an excellent resource and guideline that can be used for Culver City.

At a time when the police and emergency responders deserve our respect and thanks, you propose to give them a slap in the face and a pink slip for their efforts.

If you do not recognize both the recent heroic efforts to save Culver City businesses and the Fox Hills Mall from destruction and the long term efforts to keep our city safe, then you are either blind or have an agenda that clearly does not protect all the citizens of this city.

I did a ride along with CCPD recently.

A silent alarm at a business required the police to go blind into that business. Without any knowledge of what the danger is to their own personal safety they went in to that business to investigate. Who is going to perform that work with budget cuts.

When a social worker goes out on a call, they often require police protection due to the potential for violence. If you cut funding, how many innocent people will be harmed or murdered for your lack of foresight.

Making a political statement of cutting police funding leaves the citizens of this city venerable to the inevitable increase in crime

At this time of turmoil and lawlessness, you should increase the police budget, not give consideration to a budget cut.

Virtually every person who has purchased a home or come to live in Culver City has given consideration to the superior police and fire protection we have. Cutting the budget will undermine the ability of the city to attract both residence or businesses. It would be a foolish mistake.

It provided a comprehensive understanding of the importance of funding our police forces and the potential risks associated with defunding them. The article highlighted historical instances where the absence of professional law enforcement had dire consequences, such as the rise of vigilante groups like the Ku Klux Klan. It also brought to attention the need for proper vetting and training, which only police officers receive. This thought-provoking piece reaffirms the engagement rings significance of supporting our police and rejecting any radical anti-funding movements.