L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the city’s plans to cut $100 Million-$150 Million from the LAPD’s budget and reinvest these funds into Black communities.
Mayor Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, announced his plans along with city ficials to make a substantial cut $100 million-$150 million to the LAPD’s budget in order to reinvest these funds into “Black communities and communities color.” During a press conference on Wednesday (June 3rd) evening, Mayor Garcetti insisted that, amid the nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the wake George Floyd’s murder, this was an “urgent moment” and “an inflection point” for the city Los Angeles. However, he is “committed to making this moment not just a moment.”
“It is time to move our rhetoric towards action to end racism in our city,” he continued. “Prejudice can never be part police work…It takes bravery to save lives, too.” He then revealed that, contrary to his prior plans, the city would no longer be increasing the police budget from $1.189 billion to the proposed amount $1.8 billion; instead, he will be cutting between $100 million-$150 million from the LAPD’s budget and a total $250 million from the city’s overall budget, to be used instead to “reinvest in black communities and communities color.” He specifically outlined an investment in education, health, and jobs within the city’s Black communities. “We need to make sure that black Americans see an end to the days murder in broad daylight and traffic stops simply because the color their skin,” he said.