SACRAMENTO COUNTY, Calif. — Three Sacramento city councilmembers broke away from the majority Tuesday night and voted to allocate $6 million created by police department job vacancies toward '24-hour' crisis response.
Despite their votes, the original fiscal year 2023-24 budget proposal passed 6-3. Dissenting council members say they wanted to change the city's approach to public safety response and homelessness.
"Our police department budget has increased significantly over the last six years, while our city continues to struggle struggle with crime," said District 5 Councilmember Caity Maple. "We spent an incredible amount of money responding to crime, but what would it look like if we invested significantly more preventing it?"
Maple joined Katie Valenzuela and Mai Vang in releasing a joint statement saying they wanted to reallocate about $6 million from police job vacancies toward the Department of Community Response.
According to the councilmembers, the reallocation would have allowed for "real-time 24-hour responses" to people who are in crisis.
Valenzuela says immediate police response to reports of violent crime is needed, but law enforcement shouldn't remain the main line of response to encampment-related calls.
"We want to prioritize public safety by getting real time response out for the calls that I hear often in my district — the calls that precede someone committing a crime," she said.
Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester told council her department was understaffed with 45 vacancies and about 25 of those positions are set to be eliminated from the department, creating the contentious $6 million figure.
The department is also pulling back officers who were contracted to work with local hospitals and transit agencies, according to Lester.
Vang says increasing the number of people responding to 311 calls at the Department of Community Response would allow for more officers and 911 dispatchers to focus on immediate danger calls.
"Our calls for service should also reflect our city budget," said Vang. "So if we're focused on customer service and homelessness is one of our top three calls for service for 311, I believe that our budget should align with this — and currently it doesn't."
Lisa Kaplan, one of the six city councilmembers who voted in favor of the current city and police budget, says data shows Sacramento's current crime prevention and law enforcement programs are working.
"My undergrad degree was about criminal justice and community investment. That information hasn't changed in 25 years since I've gone to college," said Kaplan. "Investing in our neighborhoods and in our poor matter, but I want to see data. I don't believe in making changes on the fly without the data presented."
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