Protester demands to "defund the police" following the May police killing of George Floyd seemed to gain traction at the start of the summer. City officials nationwide promised to slash police department funding, while the Minneapolis City Council even made a drastic pledge to dismantle its city police department.

But nearly four months after Floyd’s death, the local fiscal adjustments driven by community pressure appear to be losing steam. According to a Smart Cities Dive analysis, 17 of 33 major cities that adopted FY21 budgets in July and October, have increased police budgets despite calls for reduced funding.

While cities have largely fallen short on meeting defunding demands, many local officials are turning to a different avenue of reform: police oversight. Of the 21 local police-related measures that will appear on November ballots, roughly half of those will address actions to implement committees and procedures that keep a closer eye on department operations.

Such measures have appeared on ballots in years prior, but "certainly not to this level," said Ballotpedia spokesperson Josh Altic. "This definitely stands out as a year where there’s more measures like this than we’ve seen in a given year before," he said.

Read the full article about police oversight by Cailin Crowe at Smartcities Dive.