Some big cities have reduced police budgets. Sacramento’s is set to hit a record high
Despite the creation of a new city department designed to shift certain duties away from police, the city of Sacramento’s police budget is set to hit an all-time-high $165.8 million in the upcoming fiscal year.
The funding is included in City Manager Howard Chan’s proposed $1.3 billion budget for the fiscal year that starts July 1. The $9.4 million increase in the police budget includes five new sworn officers, which would bring the number of budgeted officers to 756. It also includes funding for new replacement vehicles and 3.5% raises officers received in December from their union contract.
After the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis last summer, activists across the country and in Sacramento demanded cities “defund” their police departments and shift funding to youth, mental health programs and homelessness. At least 18 major cities have reduced their police budgets, according to Bloomberg.
The budget still needs City Council approval. Councilwoman Katie Valenzuela will not vote to approve the new budget with the proposed increase for police, she said.
“To put more money into law enforcement when we’ve said as a city we want to move in another direction, it doesn’t line up,” said Valenzuela, who represents the central city and Land Park.
That other direction is called the Department of Community Response — a new unit that will respond to some 911 calls involving mental health issues, homelessness and domestic violence, shifting response to those calls away from police.
Mayor Darrell Steinberg proposed the idea in the wake of Floyd’s murder. He has said it will result in at least $10 million being redirected away from the police department over two years, by the summer of 2022. But that doesn’t necessarily mean the police budget won’t keep increasing, Steinberg said Wednesday. He is comfortable with the proposed increase in the new budget.
“I’m not for ‘defunding,’” Steinberg said. “There are some things that are part of running a city, like collective bargaining and binding arbitration, and genuine needs for the police department.”
The city has spent about $119.5 million on programs and services to uplift disadvantaged communities since November 2018, according to the mayor’s office. That’s when voters approved the Measure U sales tax increase, but not all of the $119.5 million is from Measure U.
“I’m not going to get pinned to the argument that the measure of whether or not we are investing in the community in an aggressive way is whether or not we’re taking the money directly from the police department,” Steinberg said.
But some thought the police department budget would indeed decrease when the Department of Community Response was announced.
“Wasn’t the whole point that we were going to shift some things away from police? So why would they need more money?” said Flojaune Cofer, activist and chair of the city’s Measure U Citizen Advisory Committee. “Given everything that’s happened over the last year, why is that where we’re placing our dollars?”
In the proposed budget, the Department of Community Response has $5.8 million in funding, to include 23 employees. So far it has eight full-time employees and one part-time. It has not yet taken over response to 911 calls, but has been leading the city’s homeless initiatives, Steinberg said.
While the department budget is set to increase, it may not increase by as much as it would have, Steinberg said. If the city had not created the Department of Community Response, the $5.8 million might have otherwise gone to the police department.
Although the police department currently has 751 sworn positions budgeted, 50 positions are vacant, according to the department.
Hiring officers will also help the department reduce overtime, Steinberg pointed out. The department hit $14 million in overtime in 2019. In June, 33 police recruits who are currently in the academy are expected to graduate and join the department.
The five new budgeted positions include two for background division support, one for professional standards unit oversight, and two for internal affairs support.
The budget also includes $880,740 in its capital improvement program for portable radios and less-than-lethal equipment.
At least 11 people have sued the city alleging they were seriously injured by police rubber bullets, tear gas and other projectiles during the largely peaceful protests against police brutality over the summer, said Sonia Lewis, a community activist. One woman is permanently blind in one eye, and another needed emergency life-saving brain surgery, according to lawsuits.
“Why are we spending more money on weapons of war and destruction and maiming?” Lewis said.
The council is scheduled to discuss the police budget May 25, and scheduled to adopt a budget June 15.
This story was originally published April 30, 2021 at 5:00 AM.
