The City of Bainbridge Island is planning a $20 million project for a new Police Station and court building. The city has already invested nearly $9 million in purchasing the Harrison medical center property in January of 2020 and is now requiring another $12 million to complete renovations on an already brand new, barely used building with a projected annual operating cost of $100,000 (coincidentally, the same amount the City invests in affordable housing annually). In a 2015 vote on a levy that would have generated $15 million to fund the project, voters turned down the proposition by a rate of 3 to 1. Not only is this project strongly opposed by members of the public and a massive waste of tax dollars, it is also a harmful investment to the future of our community and especially during a nationwide call to defund the police, would put Bainbridge Island on the wrong side of history. 

Bainbridge Island has always been a safe community. This safety however, cannot be attributed to the city's Police Department. In December of 2020, the most common 911 call was accidental wireless hangups. Regionally, the Bainbridge Island Police Department’s crime blotter is a well-known joke. When police are active on the Island, their main functions are traffic citations, targeting youth for minor drug and alcohol possession, and mail theft. None of which require a new multimillion-dollar facility. The Bainbridge community is kept safe not by police, but by the communal trust and care that we have built, for both the people around us and our environment. Our police blotter is comedic because it exposes what we already know is true: police do not stop or prevent harm. The investments we choose to make should reflect this, not only when we consider what makes Bainbridge Island safe, but also in how we choose to support and grow trust in our community during times of great social change. 

Amidst a nationwide call to defund the police and invest in communities, the City of Bainbridge has plans to do the exact opposite. While our neighboring city, Seattle, is currently leading the way in divesting from SPD by reducing funding by 20%, all of which will be invested back into the communities most targeted by the police, Bainbridge has taken no tangible steps in response to the nationwide movement and instead plans to further fund the Island’s Police Department despite a clear lack of need or benefit to the community. Investing in alternatives such as affordable housing, public counseling, and childcare services would work to strengthen our community and provide resources to its members rather than spend our tax dollars on a building we have been perfectly safe and functional without. Bainbridge is a safe place because we support each other, not because of our police department. If we want to maintain a safe community we should invest in what we know works: accessible networks of support, care, and trust for all community members. Show your care for the community and oppose this destructive project.