Councilman Narducci Criticizes Elorza’s Targeting of Police Budget, Says Politically Motivated
GoLocalProv News Team
Councilman Narducci Criticizes Elorza’s Targeting of Police Budget, Says Politically Motivated
He says Elorza's motivation is political -- Elorza is term-limited and expected to run for the Democratic nomination for governor in 2022.
“I am disappointed that Mayor Elorza has only elected to review the budget of one department out of nearly fifty under the City’s purview. Why and what will this accomplish? We know that the Providence Police Department is not funded at capacity and that even if it were; we don’t have enough officers to be in each of our neighborhoods to deal with the quality of life issues that so many people call their Councilor’s about; like ATVs and motorbikes, fireworks, and other nuisance issues,” said Narducci.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTOn Thursday, Elorza announced his administration was hiring PFM’s Center for Justice and Safety Finance, which will Elorza says will conducting an independent budget analysis and operations review of the City’s Public Safety Department. The Elorza administration did not disclose the cost of the consulting agreements.
Providence has seen multiple protests calling for defunding the police. Elorza and the Providence Police union have been battling for months and the FOP has voted "no confidence" in the Mayor.
According to Elorza the goal of the review and analysis is to provide a breakdown of possible savings and efficiencies in public safety operations to increase capacity for prevention-first investments and approaches in sectors like housing, education, health care, mental health and social services, and workforce training, among others.
“We are living through a once-in-a-generation moment with the ability to influence transformative change in how we approach public safety in our city,” said Elorza. “We know that it is sometimes inefficient or ineffective to ask our public safety personnel to perform some of the functions we ask of them simply because they are the most available resource at the time. Rather than tasking them with these functions, we need to empower behavioral health and social service partners and agencies who are already engaged in this work to provide more positive outcomes for all our residents.”
Narducci Questions Elorza's Motivation
"I see this as nothing more than political grandstanding and a waste of money that we could have used to invest in social service programs to build a better and more resilient community," said Narducci.
"The incidents of police brutality that have occurred around the United States have rarely happened here, and when it has, our Chief of Police has acted swiftly and beyond reproach. This administration seems to be singling out one department when we are facing a fiscal cliff like we have not seen since the Great Recession of 2008. The City should have hired an outside firm to look at all of the city departments to see how we can best navigate these difficult times," said Narducci.
"If we are to review one department, let’s review them all. Certainly, we can find abundant cost savings in other departments to keep our City fiscally afloat and address the social service needs that are lacking and taking our officers away from crime prevention and reduction," said Narducci.