Manteca engaged in defunding the police a longtime ago.

And that is not a reference to what many believe is Manteca’s perennial underfunding of the department based on the dubious target of one officer per 1,000 residents.

Current Interim City Manager Mike Harden who served for years as Modesto’s police chief noted during a city budget workshop in May the 1 per 1,000 criteria is not the best measurement of public safety needs. That said it has been bantered about in every election since at least the mid-1980s as the de facto battle cry of virtually everyone seeking a seat on the council

Based on the 1 officer per 1,000 criteria, Manteca should have 90 police officers by this time next year instead of 75.

Again, the reference to Manteca being trail blazers in the “defund the police” movement does not reference staffing as it does in Seattle, Los Angeles, Oakland and in other big cities.

It is directly tied to the concept that the best way to reduce crime is via funding non-police endeavors to reduce the mass incarceration rates that have existed generation after generation.

Those rates are plummeting now since the hot trend is not jailing people and having nothing else to fall back on. It is why a lot of crime categories are on the upswing, especially in large cities.

What the movement was referencing before they branded themselves “defund they police” and attracted those that take it literally is devoting resources to work to reduce juvenile delinquency, the influence of gangs, and planting the seeds for young people to be turned into career criminals.

Manteca was doing just that decades before the poorly chosen words were strung together as a battle cry for social justice.

“Defund the police” are three inflammatory words that have been latched onto by anarchists to literally do that.

Getting at what allows criminal behavior take root is just as important if not more so than not necessarily decriminalizing some crimes but making the punishment align with the deed that is done. Issuing blanket get out of jail free cards is just as hollow and ineffective as throwing someone into prison or jail for six months or several years for non-violent offenses that don’t rise to the level of embezzling six figures or defrauding people out of their life savings.

So how was Manteca embracing the spirit behind the movement that has allowed a catchy and inflammatory slogan be used to assure no common ground would ever be forged.

Nearly 40 years ago civic leaders were concerned about a rise in juvenile delinquency as the city’s population eclipsed 23,500.

The end result was community “diversion” programs, if you will, in the form of an all our effort to expand parks — both neighborhood and community — as well as targeted endeavors.

Topping the targeted endeavors list was a community-based drive to build a Boys & Girls Club with the city providing the land.

Within a year of opening, the juvenile crime plummeted close to 30 percent in the neighborhoods within walking distance to the club.

Off duty police officers were responsible for providing the lion’s share of coaches for flag football and basketball leagues at the club.

The city added Northgate Park and eventually Woodward Park in a bid to provide space for community-based organizations to offer healthy diversions for youth. The city did the same but also targeted young adults by adding recreation basketball leagues.

It was all done with the full support of police chiefs. A long line of police chiefs — Willie Weatherford, Charlie Halford, Dave Bricker, Nick Obligacion, and Jodie Estarziau — endorsed the concept. And it wasn’t just lip service.

Each and every one of the aforementioned police chiefs at one point in their career as Manteca’s top law enforcement officer made comments to elected leaders — and the general public — during budget sessions that it was not wise to trim back parks and recreation money to grow police funding.

That’s because they understood the value of properly run recreation endeavors at nipping criminal behavior before it could take root in many young people.

That even was the position of Bricker during the dark days of the Great Recession when 10 police officers were laid off due to municipal budget woes.

Even as recent as 15 years ago Manteca was looking for new ways to beat the criminal element to the punch when it came to “recruiting” new members into their ranks.

It happened after a summer when drive-by shootings were occurring almost every other night.

Manteca took a four-pronged attack.

*They formed a gang unit within the police department.

*They formed an interdepartmental and interagency task force to go after “breeding grounds” for gangs and drug dealers/users by enforcing everything from building codes to outstanding warrants.

*They conducted educational meetings with  parents — and in some cases with the help of interpreters to make sure all segments of the Manteca community were reached — to offer not just what services were available but what to look for when it came to gang colors and clothing.

*And they enlisted community groups to work at providing alternatives to gangs in targeted neighborhoods.

The result was dramatic. The summer of the endless drive-by shootings was not repeated. The neighborhood was able to take back a renovated Southside Park. And Manteca’s crime rate that has been growing both numerically and percentage-wise stopped keeping pace with —  or exceeding — growth.

The shining example of community involvement from that summer was the formation of the Friday Unity Night or FUN Club by the Southside Church. The tiny congregation on Locust Avenue was a mighty success as they literally helped divert young people from being snared by gangs.

As difficult as it may be to comprehend experts, including ex-gang members, note pre-teens starving to be a part of something are prime targets for gang recruitment.

Things that Manteca made a high priority are part of what the level-headed people involved in the “defund the police” movement have in mind.

It would be more rationale of course, to increase funding for such programs without gutting police budgets to deal with the fact today’s violent and aggressive criminals aren’t going to magically change their behavior.

The premise behind those three words that have polarized the nation is to put in place a long-term solution although there are clearly those who want the phrase to literally be translated into slashing police forces.

This brings us to Manteca circa 2016-2018.

Remember the big push to expand recreation offerings by adding community facilities and to make sure Manteca meet the needs of a growing population?

It was hijacked by a previous city management team that changed a targeted sales tax for that purpose into a measure to simply generate $12 million more a year to do with what they saw fit. Then before the November 2018 election they unleashed a last minute scare tactic claiming the pandemic was going to collapse funding for basic services such as public safety.

Voters didn’t buy it. The supposed budget implosion was a ruse.

Manteca’s leadership dropped the ball just like their predecessors that some on the council seem all-to-quick to criticize for dropping the ball on the library expansion 18 years ago.

Getting amenities in place is a long-haul proposition.

Fortunately Manteca once-upon-a-time had an elected and bureaucratic leadership that understood such a concept or else we’d have nothing today except a handful of food trucks at Library Park and a short segment of smooth pavement on Lathrop Road.

This column is the opinion of editor, Dennis Wyatt, and does not necessarily represent the opinions of The Bulletin or 209 Multimedia. He can be reached at dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com