Richland Police, Mayor, Address Defunding and Other Issues

Richland Police Chief John Bruce and Richland Mayor Ryan Lukson were featured on a City of Richland City Corner video, it's part of a series put out by the City to inform citizens about various issues.

This week's City Corner was called A Conversation about Police Services and the Community.

The first question brought to the Chief and Mayor during the 25 minute video was about social services and programs that some communities are seeking to fund, by defunding police departments.

Host Cerise Peck of the City of Richland, the host, mentioned that many or most of these social programs are already offered at the county level. Both the Chief and Major addressed them, from low income housing to Veterans assistance programs and mental and public health.

Another topic discussed was how despite being noticeably below the national and state average for number of police officers per 1,000 of population, Richland is able to provide services. The state and national average is about 2.4 officers per 1,000, Richland is at 1.1

A number of other topics were discussed in the presentation, which is included below.