On Tuesday, December 1st, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) held their first meeting of the month. Broken up into two sessions, the first took place at 2 p.m. and the second at 6 p.m. Perhaps the greatest point of contention on the agenda was Resolution 10-N proposed by Supervisor Pete Candland (R-Gainesville). The resolution was a directive to The 2021-2024 Strategic Plan Development Team to “Strike All Language, References, and Consideration to Defunding the Police or Reallocating Funds Away from the Police from the 2021-2024 Strategic Plan.”

The resolution sparked immense controversy, as approximately 40 residents (either in person or virtually) expressed their opinion on the resolution during “public time”. Public sentiment was evenly split between a number of young, multiracial residents who spoke out against the resolution, and mostly white and elderly residents who voiced their support.

Esmeralda Flores, a young woman who lives in Gainesville, had this to say: “Before you make a decision based on these past comments, realize that these are mostly white folks who don’t have to deal with the abuse of police officers, realize Black and Brown folks are the ones who have to deal with the trauma of police officers terrorizing and discriminating [against] these communities. When we ask you to defund the police, we are asking you also in the same step reallocate the funds to social services around the county that help us.”

Alina Carter, another young woman from Gainesville, said: “I think it’s actually a really smart move on his [Supervisor Candland’s] part because now your supporters think that you’re advocating for the preservation of police department, for law and order, and for whatever else, even though the Supreme Court has already determined that police actually have no obligation to protect their public and that the first priority should be protecting the property and profits of capitalists. What you care about is dividing up this board and dividing up our county and giving us something else to talk about other than the God-given pandemic.”

Saleem Idris, a young woman living in Woodbridge, told the Board: “If you pass this resolution, you will not only be defying community members who deserve to be heard but you will be narrowing the way this board can act in the future. It’s not only a matter of protecting the police, it’s a matter of free speech. Passing this resolution would be a horrible silencing of your constituents, particularly people of color who are at much higher risks at the hands of the police.”

Gabrielle Troya, a 19-year-old college student from Occoquan, said: “I would like to call attention to the fact that the majority of those here in support of Candland’s resolution have been white, which should tell you everything you need to know about the resolution and who it’s going to impact. Where were you all summer when people protested? You were arresting them. Did you hear us when we were marching past this building in protest of the police? Did you not hear cars honking in support? We had signs that said ‘defund the police.’ We weren’t out there for fun. And there were many protests that happened this past summer. All that and you have the audacity to tell us there’s been no support for ‘defund the police.'”

Ivania Castillo, a self-described activist since 1996, asked the board: “Did you hear what the young people are saying to you? They are the new voters. They are going to come in 2021 and make sure that you are there or you are not there. You see those young people. They are the future of this county, Prince William County. And you need to respect whatever they come and tell you. Believe me, they’re going to get their friends together, and believe me, next year, no one’s going to be sitting here in the board. So we need to listen to young people.”

Jess Edwards, a young man from Neabsco, said: “I come from a family of police officers, I live in the ‘real world’ and I understand the fears around quote ‘defunding’ and in some cases even outright abolishing the police. But to limit discussion of reallocating funds from the police budget from coffers that never run dry is not only egregious and wrong, it’s surreal and hypocritical.”

Lubna Azmi, a young woman from Brentsville, drew attention to the racial makeup of the residents present, stating: “Look at who is missing here today: Black, Indigenous, and people of color. There aren’t even that many young people here today. That is the majority of this county, and they aren’t here today. That is the ‘they’ that all these other speakers have been referring to. Prisons and policing don’t keep us safe. Many issues people brought up today are not solved by increasing police.”

Yessica Bonilla, a young woman from Occoquan, declared: “We want to reallocate these things into social services which someone just said, it clearly needs the funding is what I hear if the social services department is just checking off lists or whatever. Prince William County’s desire to remove, rather to censor, language specifically used by the Black Lives Matter Movement and other affiliated police reform groups from strategic planning and resolutions for the next four years simply because it counters their own perceived goals and hurts the feelings of police officers [and] demonstrates Prince William County’s and its police force’s complete inability to understand even this most fundamental right of the American citizen.”

Brian Bennet, a young man from Occoquan, said: “The attempt made by Supervisor Candland today to quote ‘strike all language, references, and consideration of defunding the police or reallocating funds away from the police’ is disgusting. A public official would rather diminish the voice of his constituents than rather think about moving a single penny away from his proud boys in uniform.”

Following the two hours of public comment time allocated were remarks from various local officials and community members, including: an update from County Executive Christopher Matrino; a COVID-19 presentation from Brian Misner; remarks from the Prince William County Department of Fire and Rescue; a presentation on the Prince William County Legislative Agenda by Nicole Brown and Glynn Loope from Legislative Affairs; and an agency report on economic development by the Prince William County Executive Director of Economic Development, Christina Winn.

As the updates concluded, Supervisor Candland introduced his resolution, stating: “I will not stand by and let the threat of reallocating funds away from the police hang over our department’s head. We need more investment in social services. We need more investment in training. And yes we need more officers.”

Supervisor discussion prior to the vote was brief as only Supervisor Jeanine Lawson (R-Brentsville), made a statement. Supervisor Candland motioned for a vote, Supervisor Yesli Vega (R-Coles) seconded the motion. The motion failed with Supervisors Candland, Lawson, and Vega voting “yes” and Supervisors Angry, Bailey, Boddye, Franklin, and Wheeler voting “no”.

During “Supervisors time”, members of the Board explained their votes:

Vice-Chair Victor Angry (D-Neabsco) said: “When we put together the strategic planning development team, each district put a person on that team to go out and poll the county and talk to the county about what our next strategic plan should look like. And they did that work. And I’ve heard back from that development team about their concerns about this here, because, I will say this here, that development team is putting together the comments based on the people, and when that packet comes to us, then we will make a decision about what our strategic plan looks like. Right now is not the time. This is not the time to say that we’re talking [about] defunding the police because we’re not talking [about] defunding the police. We’re simply gathering the data that we sent all of the representatives out into the county to collect, and that’s a first amendment right.”

Supervisor Jeanine Lawson (R-Brentsville) remarked that she, “voted to stop any momentum about discussion about reallocating.”

Supervisor Margaret Franklin (D-Woodbridge) cited her objection to the resolution, stating: “[My] biggest concern with this resolution is the misinformation that was sent out. [I’m] a little confused on why this was necessary and I question the intent of it. And I think the intent was to sow discord, create chaos, and create further divisions between the members of our board and members of our law enforcement community.”

Supervisor Kenny Boddye (D-Occoquan) drew attention to the various community voices, remarking that he, “Looked through the other comments in regards to the police and they were a lot of folks that said our current level of policing was adequate and please do not fund the police anymore.” While addressing the Strategic Plan presentation which Supervisor Candland had called into question, Boddye stated, “What was presented on that night were not recommendations. They were simply a sampling of findings that were brought forth by community conversations and the survey. So for anyone to represent that they were recommendations, that the planning team was full steam ahead, that they wanted to start looking for ways to ‘defund the police’ that’s patently false.”

Supervisor Yesli Vega (R-Coles) claimed, “You either support the police or you don’t period.” Then continued to use the remainder of her time to thank the police.

Supervisor Andrea Bailey (D-Potomac) remarked: “I believe that we cannot erase the speech of citizens during any process. For us to strike something out of a survey because of a record, I think that’s inappropriate. And it’s prudent that we hear all voices. We can’t dislike or take an affront, in a process, and be unfair to those citizens that have a different opinion as we do.”

Chair-At-Large, Ann Wheeler (D) shared, “For me, the resolution brought into question the fundamental value of free speech.”