Written by Julianne Foster
Protests, calls, and emails have actively pushed politicians across the country to direct their time and energy into drawing up plans to support communities of color. Some have responded to the chants of protesters to pull funding and powers given to the police across the nation, while other politicians are seeing the positive impacts of directing more funding towards their departments to ensure officers are able to protect their communities.
Within 24 hours of local San Francisco teens holding a peaceful protest, Mayor London Breed and Supervisor Shamann Walton announced plans to take action in support of the African American community in San Francisco. They are interested in working with the Human Rights Commission and people in the community to identify the best areas to reallocate some funding from the San Francisco Police Department to help the city’s African American community.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has taken further steps by announcing his plans to direct $250 million to youth jobs, health initiatives, and “peace centers” to help with healing from trauma as well as provide compensation for those who have suffered from discrimination. The money will be cut from other city operations including $150 million from the LAPD’s budget of $1.8 billion. The shift of funds still needs approval from the Los Angeles City Council, but even as the mayor has been willing to redirect funds, which would lead to the loss of jobs for a lot of LAPD officers, the protesters remain unsatisfied. They are asking for the LAPD’s budget to be cut from 50% of the city’s general fund to 5.7%. While their budget cuts have been directed at satisfying angry protesters, there are still problems behind their ostensibly benevolent actions.
According to investigative journalist Natalie Brunell, Los Angeles City Council President Nury Martinez has had a private LAPD protection detail camped outside of her home from April to June. The officers were relieved of their private security responsibilities when Brunell called to ask her team about the situation.
#LATEST LA Council Pres. Nury Martinez, who introduced a motion to cut #LAPD’s budget by $150 million, had a private LAPD protection detail camped at her home from April to June. It was called off the night we called to ask her team about it. Full story coming to @SpecNews1SoCal pic.twitter.com/1lv5ctqQEC
— Natalie Brunell ⚡️ (@natbrunell) June 9, 2020
A second tweet she posted also noted the hypocrisy of Councilmember Martinez:
While one LA Councilmember was introducing a motion to cut $150 million in #LAPD funding, that official also had round-the-clock private security provided by the department at their home. @LAPPL calls it hypocrisy, adding it may have cost taxpayers around $100k. @SpecNews1SoCal pic.twitter.com/lrrRC65oj1
— Natalie Brunell ⚡️ (@natbrunell) June 8, 2020
While other California cities have been bending to the demands of fringe protesters, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and the City Council have taken a very different approach. After the City Council received roughly 4,400 emails and calls from residents and endured a 12 hour public hearing with speakers and debates, they elected not to cave to the mob regarding reducing police funding.
The public hearing was about the newly proposed city budget, which was approved by the City Council in an 8-1 bipartisan vote. City Councilman Chris Ward was the only vote against the budget for reasons unrelated to the increased funding for the San Diego Police Department.
Some opponents of the budget were demanding $100 million be cut from the police budget and $42 million of the $270 million the state received for COVID-19 relief be put towards Ward’s proposed rent relief program. These demands were not approved, however the council has agreed to create a new Office on Race and Equity. They also increased the rent relief funding by $5 million.
The key budget item increase the SDPD’s budget by $27 million to $566 million. This is to cover pre-approved raises and expenses related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
This budget increase was not appreciated by protesters who appeared at Mayor Faulconer’s house on Monday night chanting “shame on you.” Although it’s unclear whether the mayor was in his house that night or not, police stood in a line outside his home to protect him and his family from any potential threats.
In a statement on Tuesday, Mayor Faulconer said that “this is about systemic, generational issues that we must acknowledge and address, and those won’t be solved overnight with a single budget vote. We’re going to keep funding our police department but it won’t be business as usual.”
Despite the anger from fringe protesters, Faulconer seems to be more focused on using the funding for the betterment of the SDPD, rather than taking from their budget and removing hard working officers from the San Diego community. The small percentage of police officers who exist in this nation that abuse their power need to be brought to justice and the system needs work to ensure that officers are able to make sound decisions in high-risk situations. Our law enforcement officials put their lives on the line each day to keep our communities safe and it’s vital that we provide them with the funding needed to do just that.
