80 percent of mayors surveyed say police budgets ‘about right’

A new survey shows that 80 percent of mayors think the police budget for their city is “about right” after protests over the summer called for the defunding of police and for resources to be reallocated to social services. 

The Menino Survey of Mayors conducted by Boston University’s Initiative on Cities surveyed 130 mayors across the country about policing and protests. The survey included 68 percent Democratic mayors and 20 percent Republican mayors. 

Over the summer, protests against racial inequality and police brutality called for defunding the police and moving resources to social services and mental health programs. However, 80 percent of mayors believe their police budget is “about right.”

When asked about moving resources, 29 percent said they would not support reallocating resources, 28 percent said they would support moving some resources and 23 percent said they would consider moving few resources elsewhere. 

Although there was some violence at the police brutality protests, mayors believe the protests were a net good for their community. 

The mayors were asked if the protests over the summer “did more harm than good” for the city, to which 44 percent disagreed that it did more harm. There was a sharp partisan divide, with Republican mayors being 31 percent more likely to believe the protests harmed their communities. 

The driving force of the protests was the belief that police treat white people differently than Black people. A majority of mayors agree with that sentiment. 

Overall, 52 percent of mayors believe that police treat white people “somewhat better,” while 32 percent believe white and Black people are treated equally. Again, there was a partisan divide, with 73 percent of Republicans saying white and Black people are treated equally compared to just 14 percent of Democrats. 

The biggest factor mayors seem to attribute police violence to is a lack of diversity in their police force; however, only 60 percent said there is police violence in their communities. 

This survey was released after President Biden, who has promised to address matters of police brutality and racial injustice, was sworn in.