Falmouth Town Meeting Keeps Police Budget Intact

FALMOUTH, MA — Town Meeting representatives voted against an amendment that would have cut 10 percent of the Falmouth Police Department's budget. Instead, voters approved funding for an affirmative action/diversity outreach coordinator position to promote inclusion and combat racism in town.

The proposed cut came as protesters nationwide called 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.

Prior to Town Meeting, Precinct 2 Rep. Sandra Faiman-Silva emailed some of her fellow members informing them she would propose transferring 10 percent of the police budget to hire social service professional. Faiman-Silva said the social worker would address drug addiction remediation, domestic violence prevention and mental health.

"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 said. "Poverty, inequality, incarceration and murder, sometimes at the hands of law enforcement, must end, and we can no longer fail to take action."

But most Town Meeting representatives and some residents were not on board with this plan. Several representatives said they support hiring an affirmative action/diversity outreach coordinator, but the money shouldn't come from the police budget.

Town Meeting Rep. Paul Sellers said Falmouth police already work with a social worker and take the time to challenge the stereotypes of how police departments should operate.

"Anyone that wants to consider looking into reducing the police department budget, or any public safety budget for that matter, they should really take the time to go talk to the police department," Town Meeting Rep. Paul Sellers said.

Precinct 8 Rep. Amy Leonardi also said Faiman-Silva only sent the amendment to a few Town Meeting members and failed to bring up the issues with school and town officials.

Select Board member Doug Jones proposed a separate amendment to fund the position without taking money from the police budget. The amendment was approved which takes $84,000 from free cash to pay for the position. Half of the money will come from the school budget, while the other have comes the Select Board budget because the position will serve both the schools and town government.

With Jones amendment passing, Town Meeting members also approved the original police budget proposal of roughly $5.8 million, 1.52 percent increase from the previous year that allows the department to hire two new police officers.