On December 1st, the Board of County Supervisors is scheduled to receive a proposal from Gainesville Supervisor Peter Candland which will include “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 proposal comes as a response to the requests of several Black and Brown community members who have called for funds to be reallocated away from the Prince William County Police Department and into more service-based programs. While no one has called for a mass defunding of the Prince William County Police Department, who recently hired a new police chief with a questionable reputation, to completely strike any language referencing a reallocation of funding is both reprehensible and dangerous.

By approving this proposal for the next three years, it creates a limiting effect of accountability towards the PWCPD and illustrates a diminished desire by our elected officials to actively listen to the needs of those they have sworn to serve. In a recent newsletter to her constituents, Brentsville Supervisor Lawson signaled her support for the police department and singled out those who supported the re-allocation of county funding, calling them “a small fringe group of people.” This type of rhetoric can easily divide a community through discrediting labels. One can be supportive of the police department without propagating an “us vs. them” mentality. Proposals, like the one Supervisor Candland is set to introduce, will only increase the gap between the community and our elected officials despite recent efforts to elevate community dialogue.

Furthermore, this proposal also limits one of the basic rights that we as Americans have: freedom of speech. If this proposal is approved, and no further language is allowed going forward that calls for reallocation, then what comes next? Will activists, educators, and perhaps the media be restricted in what we are allowed to say regarding our own police force? The potential for going down a rabbit hole of censorship, and the unwillingness to focus on the communities as a whole is vast. Unless the Board of County Supervisors does the right thing and votes “no” on this proposal, our voices efforts will continue to fall flat.