It wasn't that long ago that Philadelphia City Council members, under pressure from racial-justice protesters, voted to cancel a proposed $19 million increase in funding to the police and move millions more to another department.
That was 2020. Five of the people who voted to flat-fund the Police Department are now running for mayor. And times have changed.
Amid a persistent gun violence crisis and a struggle to fill hundreds of police officer vacancies, some of the ex-Council members are further distancing themselves from the now years-old movement to "defund the police" and say staffing up the Police Department is a key priority.
