Roberto Williamson, who owns Breezes Island Grill Restaurant and Lounge, an American and Caribbean restaurant in Queens, called the new precinct "wonderful."
Mr. Williamson said he hadn't noticed a local uptick in crime but was in favor of more accessible police services to the area. Most important, he said, was improving relations between police and community members.
"The precinct that serves the area is very far away so it will be beneficial to have one that is closer," he said. "I wouldn't encourage defunding the police as long as they're doing the right thing by the community and the people that serve the community."
Activists who helped push the defund movement into the mainstream are disappointed in the reversals but argue their efforts have yielded results in other ways. Chivona Newsome, co-founder of the Greater New York branch of Black Lives Matter, pointed to a measure passed by the New York City Council in March ending qualified immunity as a defense for police officers sued over civil-rights violations. Qualified immunity protects officers from the threat of litigation for most law-enforcement actions. "I know [defund the police] was such a controversial term, but it has changed the way some people look at policing," she said.
Denver initially cut nearly $25 million in police spending last year because of the pandemic's economic toll. A pilot program launched last summer sends social workers and paramedics instead of officers to mental-health calls when the subject doesn't appear to be violent. The STAR program got an initial $208,000 from a sales tax approved by voters in 2018. The program will be expanded citywide at a cost of $3 million in the coming fiscal year, money that will come out of Denver's general fund and other sources -- not the police budget.
A city report found that 68% of the 243 people social workers interacted with during responses to calls were homeless. None of the incidents required the assistance of Denver police officers. The report found that the program could reduce overall police calls for service by approximately 2.8%.
Denver may be able to restore funding to the police department this year now that finances are more stable, said a spokesman for Mayor Michael Hancock, who doesn't support defunding law enforcement.
Denver Police Chief Paul Pazen said the STAR program exemplified the "holistic" approach needed to reform policing, and that stripping funding would only inhibit those efforts.
"Not too many systems out there get better by taking money away," he said.
--Katie Honan contributed to this article.
Write to Zusha Elinson at zusha.elinson@wsj.com, Dan Frosch at dan.frosch@wsj.com and Joshua Jamerson at joshua.jamerson@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
05-26-21 1813ET
