While Crime Fell, the Cost of Cops Soared
Polly Mosendz
4-5 minutes
America’s policing budget has almost tripled since 1977 to $115 billion.
June 4, 2020, 2:00 AM MDT
Over the past four decades, the cost of policing in the U.S. has almost tripled, from $42.3 billion in 1977 to $114.5 billion in 2017, according to an analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data conducted by the Urban Institute on behalf of Bloomberg Businessweek.
Annual Expenditures
Most recent year available
Data: U.S. Census reports compiled by the Urban Institute, government reports
Despite the rising dollar amounts, policing has consistently made up about 3.7% of state and local budgets since the 1970s. However, crime has been trending downward for years: Violent crime and property crime have fallen significantly since the early 1990s, according to U.S. Bureau of Justice Statistics data.
The disconnect between police funding and crime rates is a sign of the need to reform the system, advocates say. “It doesn’t make sense that the NYPD budget increases year over year,” says Jennvine Wong, staff attorney at the Legal Aid Society’s Cop Accountability Project in New York City.
In a Yahoo News/YouGov poll conducted on May 29 and 30, as protests over George Floyd’s death were spreading, the vast majority of respondents supported police reforms such as de-escalation training. But 65% said they oppose reducing police budgets.
