Defund the OPS, invest in community care.

I have concerns about the OPS operating in its current capacity. Police in Canada have a long history of violence and racism. Today, we still see situations of implicit racial bias. It's appalling to me that our public health budget is only allotted $72m whereas the OPS has been alotted $360m. Most recently, Greg Ritchie was killed by OPS while experiencing a mental health crisis. His murder as well as Abdirahman Abdi's murder during a similar crisis really highlight the need for better resources for the mentally ill. If we diverted police budget into more services and resources for those in crisis including workers who can de-escalate a crisis situation instead of reacting with violence, we wouldn't have to watch people in crisis continue to endure violence and mistreatment by police. Public health, housing, social services, community programs could all use a huge boost in funding. It's time to move away from a carceral approach and really focus on rehabilitation and community engagement. Police address the crime after it's happened but we need the resources, the funds, the man power to address the root causes of inequality and fix this broken system. Don't turn your back on us, stand with us and defund the police.