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Calls to defund or abolish police departments have become the signature demand of protesters who have taken to the streets in cities across the country over the last few weeks to denounce police violence against Black people. Proponents of such policy measures argue that the U.S. should reallocate much, or even all, of the money spent on law enforcement for anti-poverty initiatives, education, and other public services in order to more humanely address the underlying societal ills that lead to crime in the first place. Implicit in this proposition is the argument that cities spend a disproportionate percentage of their budgets on police departments, to the detriment of other services. Indeed, funding for mental health, education, affordable housing, and other programs has been steadily declining.