What would defunding CPD look like?

Credit: Colin Boyle/Block Club Chicago

The Chicago Police Department is the most expensive, and arguably most controversial, piece of Chicago’s nearly $12 billion budget. And as the City Council gets ready to pass a new spending plan for 2022 with the help of a $1.9 billion boost from the federal government, a battle is underway over how much funding should go toward police. Chicago Ald. Jeanette Taylor (20) and Emma Tai, executive director of United Working Families, talked to Alex Nitkin about what the “defund the police” movement means to them, and how they plan to advance its principles in the city’s budget when Mayor Lori Lightfoot and most of the City Council supports maintaining or growing funding for police.