Senate Considers Arizona Bill to Prevent Cities From Defunding Police Departments

ARIZONA— The state Senate in Arizona is considering a bill that would prohibit cities and towns from “defunding the police.”

According to House Bill 2120, cities would not be allowed to decrease the annual budgets of their police departments. If they do, the cities will be punished by the state, which will withhold the same amount of funds, in state dollars, from the city until they restore their police budget.

“For the past three years now, from the east coast to the west coast, all these cities have defunded their police departments. Crime has risen, towns are a mess, criminals are being let back out on the street without being charged or without bail,” stated the bill’s sponsor, Republican Rep. David Marshall, who hails from Snowflake, Arizona. “This bill is to prevent this from ever happening in our state, within our cities.”

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