​Dear Tacoma City Council and Pierce County Council,
Recently, people throughout the city and the world have been talking about the harm done by police officers to communities of color and other marginalized communities. The community is waking up and fighting for Black lives. Through conversations following the public murder of George Floyd, the city has learned and grown. We also understand that we have much more to learn. Through our education, we have engaged in the national conversation about defunding the police. We have come to realize that we are in a moment where we cannot wait to take action. In this letter, we will demand changes that you can do to make our city safer.
We demand:
In Sunrise Tacoma’s initial demands statement, we suggested that the Tacoma Police Department be defunded by 20%. After further review of the city’s budget and the needs of the community, we demand that you defund the Tacoma Police Department and the Pierce County Sheriff’s department by 50%. To do this, furlough or early retire police officers/sheriffs, cut the budget, and use the funds support true community safety (including better schooling, accessible homes, more social work and mental health care, trained crisis teams similar to the CAHOOTS program in Eugene Oregon, etc.) and help get the city out of debt. We demand that you reevaluate and redirect your priorities.
Make any and all Tacoma Police Department and Pierce County Sheriff's Department records of complaints publicly accessible and make the names of police officers who have used excessive force public.
Require longer (at least 1 year and related experience) and more comprehensive training for Tacoma Police officers and the Pierce County Sheriff, including anti-biased, anti-oppression, and de-escalation training.
End qualified immunity in the City of Tacoma and Pierce County.
Increase safety for incarcerated people in Tacoma prisons and jails and the North West Detention Center (NWDC) during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. To do this, start by eliminating the use of chemical Sani-T-10 to disinfect inside jails, prisons, and the NWDC, continually test all detained and incarcerated people and workers for COVID-19 and provide medical attention for all people with COVID-19 and other illnesses inside.
End relationships between the Tacoma Police Department and all schools in the area, removing cops from schools and requiring that any school security personnel is required to participate in anti-biased, anti-oppression, and de-escalation training and not allowed to have any weapons.
Any charges against those protesting the police system must be dropped and all protestors must be immediately freed from any fines, holdings, or imprisonment.
Throughout the process, you must consult with community leaders and organizers, especially those most impacted by the police system (especially Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC)-led organizations and those who supported the ballot initiative I-940), to ensure that the new system is equitable and reflects the needs of the community. This includes empowering the city’s citizen police oversight committee to do investigatory inquiries that could result in reprimands, demotions, and termination of officers and creating a similar committee in Pierce County.
Donate any money that you, as city or county council members have taken or will take from police unions to the Movement for Black Lives and the Northwest Community Bail Fund.
Remember that the purpose of these demands is to eventually be in a place where the prison system can be abolished and completely replaced with community safety practices. To understand a realistic and equitable way to transition, see the 8 To Abolition campaign demands.
Honor the demands of the Ellis family, Abolitionists of Pierce County, La Resistencia Northwest, Legally B.L.A.C.K., and other organizations led by and for BIPOC people engaging in this moment.

How many more people have to die because of the color of their skin? How many more people’s imprisonment do you need to profit off of? How many more families need to grieve? You can and you must change the police system by defunding it and investing in community safety. You can read more about our demands and our reasoning in our toolkit at tinyurl.com/DefundTacomaPD.

Thank you,
Sunrise Tacoma and our signed supporters