Please Add Naperville, Illinois

[jbrynn77]

Email addresses: mayor@naperville.il.us brodheadj@naperville.il.us coynek@naperville.il.us gustinp@naperville.il.us hinterlongp@naperville.il.us kellyp@naperville.il.us krummenj@naperville.il.us sullivant@naperville.il.us whiteb@naperville.il.us

Message: Hello, My name is [insert name here] and I am a concerned citizen of Naperville who lives at [insert address here]. A recent surge of community awareness has brought about my passion towards ending racially motivated police brutality. It has become painfully obvious that this issue is one that systemically affects all communities in our state and in our nation. While many citizens have not truly questioned the police force until recently, to quote Common Sense by Thomas Paine, “a long habit of not thinking a thing wrong, gives it a superficial appearance of being right”. Simply because it is a habit of our culture, we have not put enough effort as a society towards investigating and changing the police force. However, we now stand at a moment in history where it is possible to positively change the way that the law is enforced in our country and make meaningful progress towards racial equality. To achieve these ends, I argue that we should defund the budget for the police department in our city, and allocate those funds towards worthwhile projects that will better serve the community. There are many places where the police department budget could be cut, and the funds distributed elsewhere. To achieve this, a task force, entirely separate from the police department, should be created so that the city can identify, defund, and reallocate resources towards other departments. The city could even create an entirely new, non-armed and non-violent department to deal with community problems in a way that doesn’t involve the police and the use of force. This new department could involve one of the key initiatives from page four of the 2020 Naperville City Budget: “To address an increase in mental health calls, increase the number of crisis negotiators on each shift to assist with mental health/suicidal subject calls that begin to escalate.” This is the kind of area where a new department would be extremely helpful. The unnecessary dispatch of armed officers to non-criminal situations will cease, and lives will be saved. Additionally, if citizens learn to rely on services other than the police, the police will simply not need the excessively large budget that they currently require. In this way, the plan to divert police funds to other sources will make fiscal sense for the city, besides the obvious benefits of contributing towards the ending of violence and racism. A recent example of excess is the purchase of a SWAT vehicle by our city’s police department, which cost $315,000. Money that has previously been put into unnecessary purchases such as this could be put towards community development and protection, not aggression. Lives could be saved if we invest in empathy rather than the exhausted and broken status quo. Change begins at the community level, and what you have the ability to do as a representative of the Naperville community is immensely important. I, for one, know that I would be much more likely to vote for someone who has taken decisive action to defund the police and has actively opposed police brutality. Become a pioneering droplet in this tidal wave of empathetic change, and work towards fulfilling what we citizens demand: a city that truly works toward the goal of liberty and justice for all. Defund the police; do not let our city be washed away and left behind on the wrong side of history. Sincerely, [insert name here]

Please let me know if there are areas of improvement that could be made! Thank you.

[mahrer]

Thank you for submitting your city to defund12.org! Your request is now in the queue for review and publishing. We’ll reply here if we have any questions.

[aurendisson]

Editing notes: I edited to match our format and style guide, and I added the council@naperville.il.us email that I found on the city website. While I love what you wrote, I felt it was important to trim down to increase chances of being read (attention spans are so short, especially online!). I added the police budget to the copy as well, per the link below. I've omitted the portion about a separate department, as I'm unsure of any similar local demands from groups such as BLM, so I want to keep the message more focused of defunding and reallocating. https://www.naperville.il.us/globalassets/media/finance-documents/budget-audit-reports/2020budget.pdf

To: council@naperville.il.us, mayor@naperville.il.us, brodheadj@naperville.il.us, coynek@naperville.il.us, gustinp@naperville.il.us, hinterlongp@naperville.il.us, kellyp@naperville.il.us, krummenj@naperville.il.us, sullivant@naperville.il.us, whiteb@naperville.il.us

Subject: [ INSERT UNIQUE SUBJECT LINE ]

Message: (Don't forget to replace the [x]'s with your information!)

Hello,

My name is [insert name here] and I am a concerned resident of Naperville. A recent surge of community awareness has brought about my passion for ending police brutality and racist policing practices. It has become painfully obvious that this issue is one that systemically affects all communities in our state and in our nation. We now stand at a moment in history where it is possible to positively change the way that the law is enforced in our country and make meaningful progress towards racial equality.

To achieve these ends, I argue that we should defund the budget for the police department in our city, and allocate those funds towards worthwhile projects that will better serve the community. To achieve this, a task force, entirely separate from the police department, should be created so that the city can identify, defund, and reallocate resources towards other departments to deal with community problems in a way that doesn’t involve the police and the use of force. An approach such as this could involve one of the key initiatives from page four of the 2020 Naperville City Budget: “To address an increase in mental health calls, increase the number of crisis negotiators on each shift to assist with mental health/suicidal subject calls that begin to escalate.” The unnecessary dispatch of armed officers to non-criminal situations will cease, and lives will be saved. Additionally, if citizens rely on services other than the police, the police will simply not need the excessively large budget currently in place. In this way, the plan to divert police funds to other sources will make fiscal sense for the city.

Currently, the Naperville Police Department budget is $43.2 million, or 34% of the entire city budget. Excessive funds to the police and unnecessary purchases such as the $315,000 SWAT vehicle could instead be put towards community development and protection, not aggression. Lives could be saved if we invest in empathy rather than the exhausted and broken status quo.

Change begins at the community level—and as a representative of the Naperville community, your role is immensely important and impactful. I, for one, know that I would be much more likely to vote for someone who has taken decisive action to defund the police and has actively opposed police brutality. Become a pioneering droplet in this tidal wave of empathetic change, and work towards shaping this city into one that truly works toward the goal of liberty and justice for all.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME] [YOUR ADDRESS] [YOUR EMAIL] [YOUR PHONE]