Cut Falmouth Police Budget By 10 Percent, Official Says

FALMOUTH, MA — A Falmouth Town Meeting member said she will propose an amendment calling for a 10 percent reduction to the police budget at Town Meeting Monday night. But several Town Meeting members and residents have come out against the amendment.

Precinct 2 Rep. Sandra Faiman-Silva said in an email sent to Town Meeting members that she will propose transferring 10 percent of the police budget to hire social service professionals. Faiman-Silva said the social workers would address drug addiction remediation, domestic violence prevention and mental health.

The proposed cut comes as protesters nationwide call for an end to racism and police brutality following the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks. Some protesters have called for defunding police budgets and allocating funds for community-oriented programs.

"To address inequality in our community, we cannot look to the police to enforce an oppressive social system based on white supremacy, racism, poverty, homelessness, addiction and unemployment," Faiman-Silva wrote. "We must instead invest in affirming social and human services such as public housing and education, targeted in particular towards poor residents and our communities of color."

According to the amendment, some of the money would also go toward training on racial bias, racial profiling and institutional racism in the Falmouth Police Department, school department and town government.

"The recent murder of George Floyd has shown us that we can no longer ignore these glaring inequalities, and the troubling relationship between people of color and some members of the police," Faiman-Silva wrote. "Poverty, inequality, incarceration and murder, sometimes at the hands of law enforcement, must end, and we can no longer fail to take action."

But several town meeting members, including Amy Leonardi, of Precinct 8, were not happy with the amendment. According to Leonardi, Faiman-Silva only sent the amendment to a few Town Meeting members and failed to bring up the issues with school and town officials.

"I didn't even get the email," Leonardi told Patch. "Another town meeting member sent it to me at 7 a.m., this morning.

"I'm not happy because Town Meeting is set to have low attendance," Leonardi added. "We might not have a quorum."

Patch did not get an immediate response from Faiman-Silva, but did confirm she apologized to at least one representative who didn't get the email.

"I was unable to email everyone, for which I [apologize]," Faiman-Silva wrote to one town meeting member.

Leonardi said the coronavirus pandemic is likely to impact Town Meeting attendance, and to have people finding out about this proposed amendment the morning of the meeting is "absolutely absurd."

To make that decision at the last minute and without actually vetting it through the committee or meeting with the organizers is "absolutely absurd," Leonardi said. "She has a right to make amendments as all town meeting members do, but not all people are being heard and represented. That's our job as town meeting members."

Following the proposed amendment, several Falmouth residents organized a protest against the police budget cut. The protest is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., a half-hour before the start of Town Meeting.

"This is a peaceful rally to show your support for our Falmouth Police Department and let town meeting members know you reject this amendment," the organizers wrote on the Facebook page for the protest.