MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A new report shows that police departments across Wisconsin saw their budgets cut and number of sworn officers reduced before the George Floyd killing in Minneapolis and the national “defund police” debate.
The Wisconsin Policy Forum report released Tuesday says the data suggests that cutting police and fire department budgets is less about a deliberate attempt to defund them and more about confronting difficult fiscal realities.
The report comes after Gov. Tony Evers vetoed a bill passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature that would have cut state aid to communities that reduce police budgets.
