Long Beach City Council members were in agreement at last night’s budget hearing that cutting the Long Beach police budget would be, in Councilmember Al Austin’s words, “not smart or responsible.”
The Long Beach Police Department proposed budget totals $285 million—a $16 million increase from last year’s budget, which was subject to cuts like nearly every other department due to the impacts of the pandemic.
During public comment, community members called for the council to reduce the department’s budget by 25%, one of the requests of the People’s Budget.
Divestment from police is a key component of the growing movement for alternative modes of policing spurred on by the racial uprisings that occurred last year in response to the murder of George Floyd by police.
City Manager Tom Modica prefaced the meeting by highlighting the progress of the police department, including its Office of Constitutional Policing and efforts to increase diversity recruitment.
“Clearly, you’ve misheard us,” District 2 resident Kenny Allen said of Modica’s comments. “Those things are not the problem. The problem is the dramatic and unprecedented expansion and intensity of policing in the last 40 years, a fundamental shift of the role of police in society.”
The police budget makes up nearly half of the City’s general fund, the other half of which is distributed to services like the parks system, libraries, public works and the health department.
Advocates called for 25% of the police budget to be reallocated to things like a rental housing division, language access and community investments.
“We are not asking for more equitable policing,” Allen said. “We’re asking for our money back—$65 million. That is what we are asking for. Do not mishear us again.”
Calls to defund the police stand in front of a harrowing backdrop. Shootings are increasing in the city, as are firearm arrests. Last year, the department received 602,935 calls to service.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea for us to live with any fewer officers,” said Councilmember Cindy Allen, a former police officer and recipient of nearly $50,000 in campaign funding from the Long Beach Police Foundation.
Police staffing isn’t expected to increase, but a portion of the budget will be spent on funding two police academies. Police Chief Robert Luna cited high levels of attrition—sworn personnel leaving the department—in the past year.
“It’s a tough job,” he said, noting that “disparaging” comments about police impact the department’s ability to recruit new personnel.
Councilmember Stacy Mungo pointed out that, without investing in hiring “the next generation of officers,” current officers may have to work overtime to make up for staffing gaps. The proposed budget allocates $12.8 million to overtime, a $1.8 million increase from last year’s budget.
Councilmember Suzie Price acknowledged the value of crime prevention programs like mental health and youth programming but said that those efforts need to be balanced with enforcement.
“We need to do everything we can to route as many resources to that as we can. I’m 100% on board, but not as a punitive sanction to the police department,” Price said. “We shouldn’t be punishing any department, as an entire department, because our residents are going to be the ones that suffer.”
The police budget could receive a boost in the coming weeks as the council discussed the police helicopter unit, which supports officers on the ground by radioing in information from a bird’s eye view.
Last year, budget cuts sliced helicopter staffing from six sworn personnel to two sworn personnel and two civilian positions. The estimated cost of converting the civilian positions into sworn positions is $120,000, Modica said. Restoring the helicopter unit back to six sworn positions would cost over half a million dollars.
Council members seemed in agreement that helicopters should be run by sworn personnel. Price, a district attorney in Orange County, said that a civilian testifying in court would be “the worst kind of witness in the world.” Allen said civilian pilots were akin to Uber drivers.
By and large, the council expressed commitment to retaining the police’s current budget.
“At the end of the day, folks want to know [that] when they call 911, someone is going to be there to help them,” Mayor Robert Garcia said.
The City of Long Beach proposed fiscal year 2022 budget can be read here.
Of course LB City Clowncil wants to keep the police intact with increased funding. It’s their meal ticket, as it is for all electeds supported by the police union.
The decision was made, as they always are, behind closed doors before the public is permitted to know them. Never are public comments taken into account; otherwise we’d have a better return on our nosebleed investments.
That the police take up half our general fund and there are NO boots on the ground is despicable. That the representatives of this city think that’s okay is, quite frankly, callous disregard for the public good. Which is their job to uphold.