Tuesday night the City Council passed a budget that is pro-police and anti-houseless

The City Council failed to defund the police. Instead they voted to increase the BPD budget. The people of Berkeley gave them every opportunity to do the right thing and they didn’t!

We in Copwatch, along with many community members, are outraged by the vote Tuesday night. Thank you to everyone who spoke up advocating for care and justice! The community clearly wants change. However, when it came to a vote, the City Council did not act in response to the community's overwhelming support for Care Not Cops. Either the City Council does not see the relationship between community health and safety, or they succumbed to pressure from police and from those who believe that we can simply "sweep" houselessness and poverty away. Either way, we will continue to fight to defund the police and refund our communities!

Our work continues!

We continue to demand structural change in how services are provided, who responds and how these calls for help are responded to. We will stay involved in these issues every day. In addition, we will continue to go on copwatching shifts, assert our rights, and challenge unjust practices with renewed inspiration and clarity about the kind of community in which we want to live.