Crime prevention means investing in more than just police departments

As a retired police lieutenant who spent more than two decades walking the beat, investigating major crimes, and partnering with communities on public safety, my career taught me an important lesson: Law enforcement cannot do the job alone.

That’s why I was dismayed—and frankly, alarmed—by the Trump administration’s recent executive order halting federal funding to hundreds of community-based organizations working on violence prevention, victim services, reentry support, and youth development. In one sweeping move, the administration sidelined groups, including more than a dozen in California, that have proven themselves valuable partners in law enforcement’s mission to build safer, healthier communities.

We should be clear about what’s happening. This isn’t just a budgetary reshuffle in the name of “government efficiency.” It’s an ideological shift—a misguided move to silo off policing as a standalone force in our public safety ecosystem. The executive order reflects a shallow worldview that assumes law enforcement alone can handle crime and all of the issues that contribute to it, from mental health crises and substance abuse, to generational poverty, trauma, and interpersonal conflict. That’s never been true, and pretending otherwise only puts police and the communities they serve at risk.

While some California organizations are planning to fight the cuts, the impact has been immediate. Advance Peace Fresno, an organization with a proven record of preventing retaliatory gun violence, lost a $2 million grant, causing some staff members to forgo pay. Oakland-based Impact Justice lost $8.5 million in federal funding, some of which was earmarked for reentry housing, leaving people returning from incarceration with fewer options and a lack of stability. Youth Alive!, a nationally respected violence intervention group in Oakland, lost a $2 million grant, imperiling its work supporting gunshot survivors, mediating conflicts, and helping youth get on the right track.

These aren’t abstract cuts that will save taxpayers money or boost the government’s bottom line. This is cutting off our nose to spite our face. Severing support for these community-based interventions will only make neighborhoods less safe and place an even heavier burden on law enforcement.

Any police officer who is effective in their communities will tell you that organizations like these are not wasteful. They serve as a force multiplier for law enforcement and a cornerstone of smart public safety strategy. I’ve seen firsthand how violence intervention workers mediate conflicts that could easily spiral into bloodshed. I’ve watched formerly incarcerated mentors steer youth away from crime. I’ve witnessed trauma-informed outreach teams support vulnerable people in ways police officers can’t.

These organizations work because they are embedded in the communities they serve. They often hire staff with lived experience, who bring credibility and deep local knowledge to the job. Their presence builds trust and relationships where law enforcement often cannot. And unlike reactive policing, many of their efforts are preventative by design, addressing the root causes of crime before it happens.

We know this approach is effective. Research has shown that interventions like these reduce violence, lower recidivism, improve health outcomes, and offer victims a real chance at healing. In fact, investments in prevention and community support often deliver better results at a fraction of the cost of traditional law enforcement involvement or incarceration.

Now, these proven tools are being defunded in favor of a return to punishment-first policies. This decision reflects a narrow, outdated vision of public safety—one that centers enforcement while neglecting prevention, healing, and community well-being. It ignores decades of evidence and threatens to undo the work of organizations that have made a deep, measurable impact.

If these cuts stand, we will likely see more crime, not less, as conflicts go unmediated and survivors lose access to trauma support. We will see higher rates of recidivism as people returning from prison are left without housing or services. We will see more suffering for victims who no longer have advocates by their side. And we will see police stretched even thinner, as they are asked to fill these gaps.

California has long been a leader in innovative approaches to public safety. Now is the time for our state leaders to step up and fill the funding void left by this reckless decision. This means more than writing checks—it means affirming a broader vision of safety that sees police not as the whole solution, but as one part of a much larger system of care.

We can’t afford to return to the failed logic of “police-only” public safety. The communities most impacted by crime deserve more than that. And so do the officers who serve them.

Lt. Diane Goldstein (Ret.) is a 21-year police veteran and executive director of the Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP), a nonprofit group of police, judges, and other law enforcement professionals who support policies that improve public safety and police-community relations.