June 10, 2020

San Francisco’s Police Union Just Made the Case for Defunding the Police

Police officers in front of San Francisco's City Hall on May 31.Karl Mondon/Getty

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Following the lead of transit workers and agencies in Minneapolis, New York, and Boston, the San Francisco Municipal Transportation Agency (AKA Muni) announced yesterday that it would stop transporting cops to anti-police brutality protests: 

Today, the city’s police union, the San Francisco Police Officers Association, tweeted out a grumpy response that inadvertently made the case for rolling back some of the city’s police services, specifically, using cops to bust fare evaders and handle “problem passengers.” “Shouldn’t be a @SFPD officer’s job anyway,” it grumbled.

The SFPOA went on, “As city leaders demand cuts to SFPD, it needs to be clear what SFPD will no longer do.” Yup. That’s exactly the discussion that advocates of defunding and downsizing police departments have kicked off. Beyond the menacing snark, is San Francisco’s police union ready to have that conversation?  

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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