The Michigan House of Representatives passed legislation April 22 to increase police funding that gives priority to places dealing with highest number of violent crimes in the state.
House Bills 4260 and 4261 would dedicate $115 million annually in sales tax revenue for a new Public Safety and Violence Prevention Fund. Lawmakers took up legislation in the previous legislative session, but the bills never landed on Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s desk.
The proposal would initially distribute $72 million to local police departments, with money distributed proportionally based on a city or township’s violent crime rate. The fund would also dedicate $1.5 million for a state grant program for community violence intervention initiatives, which seek to reduce violent crime through local outreach. Another $1.5 million would go to the state’s fund for crime victims. Remaining dollars in the fund would go to county sheriffs.
“Public safety is the most fundamental promise any government can make to its people,” said bill sponsor state Rep. Mike Harris, R-Waterford, in a speech. His Democratic partner on the legislation — state Rep. Alabas Farhat, D-Dearborn — called the policy proposal a “national model.”
“Now this fund will trust those closest to the pain,” Farhat said in a speech. He also said it will incentivize law enforcement to spend the money effectively with modest funding cuts for communities that don’t see a decrease in violent crime after receiving funding. “We want programs that work,” Farhat said.
The legislation passed 104-4 in the state House. Republican state Rep. Steve Carra of Three Rivers and Democratic state Reps. Carrie Rheingans of Ann Arbor, Phil Skaggs of East Grand Rapids and Dylan Wegela of Garden City voted against it.
Wegela asked lawmakers to think of the opportunity cost associated with the bills. “What else could we fund with $115 million?” he said. He pointed out that some studies have shown no correlation between police spending and a reduction in crime rates. “We owe it to our communities to explore the crime reduction that comes from ending poverty, reforming criminal justice and reinventing our public safety institutions,” Wegela said.
Under the legislation, law enforcement would have wide discretion over how to spend the money. They could use it to recruit and retain officers and buy new patrol cars, for instance. But police departments could not use the money to obtain large vehicles designed for tactical use, facial recognition technology or chemical weapons.
The legislation is a top priority for Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who joined House Speaker Matt Hall, R-Richland Township, for an April 7 news conference at the Detroit Police Headquarters to promote the bills.
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Michigan Democratic Party Chair Curtis Hertel Jr. blasted Duggan in a statement the next day for standing with Hall — a supporter of President Donald Trump — as the Detroit mayor and longtime Democrat campaigns as an independent candidate for governor.
Duggan’s campaign shot back. “Curtis Hertel has made his stance clear: hating Republicans is more important than putting cops on the streets,” Duggan’s son and campaign manager Ed Duggan wrote in an April 9 email.
The police funding bills next head to the Michigan Senate for consideration.
Contact Clara Hendrickson at chendrickson@freepress.com or 313-296-5743.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan House passes police funding legislation