Can you envision a community where everyone thrives, where opportunities abound, and every individual feels valued and supported? Picture a society where financial struggles are a thing of the past, where families can comfortably afford their basic needs without the burden of multiple jobs. Envision streets bustling with laughter and play, where children roam freely knowing they are safe and protected. Imagine schools brimming with resources, nurturing the minds of our future leaders. Visualize abundant access to nourishing, locally sourced food, where everyone has the means to feed themselves and their loved ones healthily. Envision a network of affordable childcare options, enabling parents to pursue their dreams while their children are cared for in a safe environment. Picture homes that are not just shelters, but sanctuaries, where everyone has a place to call their own, free from fear or insecurity. Would that embody public safety to you?

We’re asking for a city budget that funds our community and invests in true public safety.

In 2023, Charleston spent over $64 million on policing, funding the Charleston Police Department (CPD) at a rate of over $400 per resident. Comparatively, the city allocated just $8 per resident to Housing and Community Development, $6.12 per resident to Resilience and Emergency Management, and $2.46 per resident toward the Mayor’s Office for Children, Youth & Families.

Increasing police spending year after year does not result in a safer community. Charleston is not safe when 27% of Charleston residents face shelter poverty and more pedestrians die from unsafe streets here than almost anywhere else in the country. North Charleston is not safe when multimillion-dollar investments in fruitless mass surveillance technologies are prioritized over access to healthy foods, decent jobs, safe and stable housing for residents.

Many of the working-class residents who are essential to making our cities run suffer from low wages and an ever-increasing cost of living, and many of our neighbors can’t access the basic health services they need. Our beloved historic neighborhoods face the brunt of flooding, climate displacement, and continue to experience daily and long-term damage caused by underfunded public services and over-development. True public safety must address these critical issues – and unfortunately, more policing does not.

Having a People’s Budget in Charleston and North Charleston means reallocating 8% of each police department’s budget to better fund youth and education programs, safer sidewalks, broader weatherization assistance programs, and more affordable housing to help us continue to build a city that is safe and welcoming for everyone who calls the Charleston area home.

Join us by signing our petition to show city leadership we want a budget that works for everyone in our communities, or learn more below!

Doesn't more police equal a safer city?

Believe it or not, data has consistently shown that there is no correlation between spending more money on the police and lower crime rates! Check out some of these success stories from cities all over the U.S.

• Cleaning up vacant lots in Philadelphia led to a 29% decrease in gun violence
• A trial of improved street lighting in NYC reduced outdoor nighttime crimes by 36%
• Providing emergency assistance to community members experiencing economic uncertainty can reduce violent crime arrests by over 50%
• Cities all over the country are transforming their public safety by having unarmed specialists (instead of police) respond to 911 calls related to mental health and homelessness, causing significant reductions in arrests, altercations, and costs to taxpayers
• Expanding Medicaid and improving access to substance use treatment and mental health services also consistently contributes to significant reductions in crime

If police don’t make us safer, what do they actually spend their time doing?

In 2019, only 13.8% of arrests in Charleston involved incidents with serious threats of violence. The majority of the rest were for nonviolent, largely low-level offenses, such as having an open container, loitering, and disturbing the peace. Since 2015, there have been more arrests in Charleston for marijuana possession than there have been for all violent offenses combined. In 2019, the CPD Racial Bias Audit found that Black community members were nearly 3x more likely to face the use of force from CPD. White officers were disproportionately involved in these use-of-force cases, as 90% of officers who used force were white, but they only comprised 77% of police personnel.

Can you imagine how it would feel to live in a community where everyone's needs are not just met, but exceeded? What kind of city could we create if we prioritized the well-being and prosperity of every individual? And most importantly, what steps can we take today to turn this vision into a reality? Let's dare to dream of a future where true public safety means more than just the absence of crime, but the presence of abundance, opportunity, and genuine care for one another.

We believe Charleston and North Charleston leadership can create true public safety by investing in our communities. Now is the time for our elected city leaders to take the first steps toward building a public safety system that ensures the safety and well-being of all.

Thanks for joining us!