Prepping for the election debate

USAFacts.org is an excellent source of what local, state, federal entities spend using all the statistical sources that are published such as crime, health, and education.  But because most of these organizations lean left even with interpreting dry statistics, one can still see a bias in how the “facts” are presented.  Today it is outlining which topics might come up in the debate between Biden and Trump, such as “defund” the police.” US Census Bureau’s 2017 State & Local Government Finance Historical Datasets is the source of the data.

It begins with a graph you should be familiar with—the drastic drop in crime since its peak in the early 90s. Then it goes on to break out how much counties and states spend locally on their responsibilities like education, law enforcement, public health, etc.  Education, of course is the biggie—almost 50% of local budgets go for that (very little comes from the federal government). The second highest expense at the local level is law enforcement, but it’s only 9.2%.

So the way this is framed is that it law enforcement is the second highest expense, even though it pales in comparison with education. However, adding together what is traditionally called “social safety net” –public health, aid to disadvantaged, and children’s services—which total 10.4%, law enforcement is actually third.  In per capita spending that is $2,106 for education, $451 for social safety net, and $397 for police protection. 

And I’m sure its no shock to any of us to find out that large counties and metropolitan areas spend more on law enforcement than smaller counties. Yet, NYC actually spends a lower percentage of its budget on policing than the average—7.3%.

“In the 25 most populous counties—counting New York City’s five boroughs as a single county—local governments spent $573 per resident on law enforcement – which includes both police services and corrections. In the next 303 most populous counties, all with at least 200,000 residents, law enforcement spending stood at $388 per person. . .

Among the largest 25 counties, Broward County, Fla. spends the highest share of its local government budgets (18.2% or $723 per person) on law enforcement. The county spent less than average on education (37.4% of the total budget) but higher than average spending on child and social services (4.4%).

New York City, where the city government oversees all five of its boroughs, spends 7.3% of its budget on law enforcement. The city government spends 30.6% of its money on education and 12.4% on social services and aid to the disadvantaged combined. “

Some large metropolitan areas don’t follow the trends in police funding.

“Bexar County, Texas, home to San Antonio and nearly 2 million residents, spent $298 per person on law enforcement and $3,906 per person in total. The city of St. Louis, which as an independent city functions as its own county, spent $795 per person on law enforcement and $6,764 per person in total. St. Louis has a population of just 308,000.”

Is it different policing or different people committing the crimes? Would the people of St. Louis be safer if the law enforcement budget was cut or “defunded?”

Read the article here: https://usafacts.org/articles/police-funding-local-governments/?