CARE statement on Yale Police Department divestment
CARE stands in solidarity with Black Lives Matter New Haven and with the nation-wide demands to defund policing and invest into public health, housing, employment, physical and mental health services, and youth empowerment. We call on Yale University to divest from Yale Police Department (YPD) and direct these resources towards the New Haven community.
In its 2018 policy statement “Addressing Law Enforcement Violence as a Public Health Issue”, the American Public Health Association highlighted the need to address the harms caused by law enforcement violence, particularly affecting people of color, immigrants, queer people, individuals in street-based economies, and people with mental or physical disabilities. The recommended public health strategies include implementing community-based alternatives to policing and increasing investment in social determinants of health which include, among others, healthy neighborhoods, a clean environment, safe and affordable housing, adequate income, access to nutritious food, and educational opportunities.
As a public health organization focusing on health disparities in New Haven, we recognize that the over-policing of residents exacerbates health inequities by channeling resources and funding into police departments and away from the community. Studies have shown that surveillance, stops by police, and anticipated stops are associated with anxiety, depression, and PTSD for the communities that experience them. New Haven residents, in particular, are subject to “triple policing” by the New Haven, Hamden, and Yale police departments.
So far, studies have failed to find conclusive evidence that police reforms such as community policing strategies, training in implicit bias, and body cameras have a significant effect on reducing police violence. Moreover, reforms that introduce new policing practices are band-aid solutions at best that fall short of addressing the root causes of social issues. Many criminalized activities such as homelessness, drug use, petty theft, and sex work are a direct result of structural marginalization and economic precarity. An upstream, primary prevention-oriented public health approach should address the underlying social conditions that create marginalization. Thus, divesting from law enforcement and investing in social determinants of health is a crucial evidence-based public health intervention.
While information about YPD’s current budget is not public, in 2008 the Freedom of Information Commission revealed that YPD had an annual operating budget of approximately $10.3 million, and the tax-exempt building on Ashmun Street that houses YPD’s headquarters was worth over $5.6 million. We believe that these resources should be channeled toward New Haven Public Schools, community health clinics, affordable housing, mental health services, and job programs.
The recent decision by the New Haven Board of Alders to recognize racism as a public health crisis calls for public health approaches to racial injustices. Defunding policing and investing in the community is public health.