Oakland budget allots $9M more to police than in previous 2 years

(Refugio Garcia/NewsBreak)

(OAKLAND, Calif.) Plans to make deep cuts to the budget of the Oakland Police Department fell short after the latest budget passed, allocating an additional $9 million to the police budget compared to the previous two years, KTVU reports.

The latest budget cycle for the City of Oakland spans from July 1, 2021 to June 30, 2023, and will allot $675 million to the department. Police received $665 million during the last budget cycle.

However, the increased police budget is incidental to the increase of the overall city budget, which now totals $3.8 billion. The increased budget is due to excess revenues provided by the federal and state government to help local municipalities recover financially.

Oakland Mayor Libby Schaaf pushed for a $27 million increase in police spending prior to the passing of the latest budget.

The contrasting budget proposal came from Councilperson Nikki Fortunato Bas and some of her colleagues, who pushed for removing $18 million from the police budget.

As a result, certain aspects of the department will not be funded, including a traffic patrol squad, two police academies and the freezing of 50 tactical operations positions for the second year of the upcoming budget cycle.

The department will be funding a pilot program titled, “MACRO,” which is focused on responding to mental health crises as well as increasing funds for the violence prevention program.

While the department has received more funds than in the previous budget cycle, the department only accounts for 18% of the overall city budget compared to 20% in the previous two years. Defund activists were pushing for a 50% decrease in the police budget.

Follow me to see more articles like this.

...

Follow