A lot of good aspects to #HeroesAct. A lot missing.

But also stuff in House's recovery package from last week that should NOT be included, among them *$300 million* for the COPS Program, which has fueled the school to prison pipeline, overpolicing, and mass criminalization.

There is no reason for cities to hire or rehire additional police officers. Most municipalities already spend anywhere from a third to over half of their limited budgets on police departments alone. See, e.g., our 2017 report ( http://populardemocracy.org/FreedomToThrive ).

Instead of even more $ to bloated police depts, we should be *reducing* $ on policing, which now totals over $100 billion annually nationwide, w/ cities like NYC spending close to $6 billion every single yr.

We must spend $ differently, esp during pandemic. #NYCBudgetJustice

The COPS program is particularly insidious. Part of the 1994 Crime Bill, it has thrown more than $14 BILLION in federal money towards state and local enforcement over 25 years, fueling mass incarceration & putting pressure on local budgets to maintain police salaries over time.

COPS Program has also provided seed money for local districts to fund school policing and surveillance infrastructure programs that have been largely responsible for driving the quintessentially American horrific school-to-prison pipeline.

I also wonder if there was any coordination between Joe Biden team and House Democrats on this bill. Coincidence that Biden distressingly has also called for $300 Million to "reinvigorate" the COPS program?

Hopefully Biden also reverses himself on this.

Cities and states desperately need federal resources and financial support during the pandemic crisis.

It should absolutely not be in the form of more policing and greater mass incarceration.