Sacramento wants to increase its police budget. Sure — as long as reforms come with it

The Sacramento Police Department budget could soon get a $9.4 million increase, which would establish a record-high $165.8 million budget if the city council approves it later this month. For some, authorizing this feels like a slap in the face barely one year after George Floyd was murdered and much of the country finally recognized the deadly consequences of systemic racism.

“Defunding” the police became a rallying cry during last summer’s movement for Black lives. That’s why adding five new positions and upgrading vehicles — on top of fulfilling contracted pay raises — makes it seem as though Sacramento leaders aren’t being responsive to the citizens they serve.

But it’s not just the activists who want to see changes in their local police departments. A recent Washington Post-ABC News poll found that six in 10 Americans believe we should be doing more to hold officers accountable. Concerns about the mistreatment of Black people in our criminal justice system remain at their highest level in over three decades.

Everyone in Sacramento wants a safe community where enforcing the law doesn’t result in avoidable deaths and masses of people pouring onto the streets, stricken with grief and outrage. If the city council wants to approve the budget increase, that’s fine — but they should also be willing to enact accountability measures that the majority of Sacramentans want.

They can start with the recommendations put forward by the Sacramento Community Police Review Commission, which they’ve heard in multiple presentations over the past few months and had ample time to consider.

So far, the only recommendation the council has approved was strengthening Sacramento’s use-of-force policy by blending language from San Francisco’s version and Assembly Bill 392. Last fall, the ACLU said Sacramento’s previous policy was too ambiguous and inconsistent with the 2019 law — even though it passed as a direct response to the police killing of Stephon Clark.

Right now, the council could vote to give the new inspector general independent oversight and grant subpoena power; suspend officers who use lethal force without pay; act on commission recommendations within three months; require police officers to obtain four-year college degrees within six years of joining the force; hire a third-party to investigate racial disparities in traffic stops; and create standards for disciplinary action.

These are all reasonable recommendations that were crafted by the very people the city council appointed to identify actionable police reforms.

Sacramento Police Chief Daniel Hahn said during his swearing-in ceremony in 2017 that improving the department’s relationship with the community was his top priority. During a city council meeting last month, as the Oak Park native discussed his department’s objectives for the upcoming fiscal year, he said that hasn’t changed. Yet the most recent Community and Officer Surveys show that he hasn’t done much to improve relations. In fact, 83% of his officers reported having “some,” “not much” or “hardly any trust” in residents living in the areas they patrol.

Citizens are right to be concerned when officers with this level of mistrust are given a profound level of power over their lives.

The city council must ensure Hahn keeps his word on restoring these broken relationships. It’s elected leaders who are supposed to set the higher bar for law enforcement, and there’s no better time to raise it than during budget deliberations.

So if the city council chooses to approve the extra funding, it must do so by proving to its constituents that their concerns matter, too. Adopting the police commission’s policy changes is the best way to do that.

The public has made it clear what it wants. If the police want more funding, greater accountability is the cost.