SACRAMENTO, Calif — State officials say the California Highway Patrol spent $38 million responding to recent widespread protests over racial injustice. That brings state agencies’ combined law enforcement costs to $63 million so far.
The new highway patrol tally sent to state lawmakers is on top of $25 million that Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration last week reported spending to deploy 8,000 National Guard soldiers to aid state and local police during demonstrations following the May 25 death of George Floyd in Minnesota.
CHP officers reported more than 431,000 hours of unanticipated overtime. Officers were put on 12-hour shifts starting May 29.
Demonstrations over the police killing of Floyd were not limited to one part of California. In Los Angeles, protesters took the streets and were often met with violence and arrested by Los Angeles police. In San Francisco, marchers shut down the Golden Gate Bridge, marching the 1.7-mile-long bridge connecting the Bay Area.
In Sacramento, protesters rallied for days at Cesar Chavez Park in downtown, marched to the steps of the state capitol, staged a "die-in" in Mayor Darrell Steinberg's neighborhood, and even briefly shut down the freeway.
While several protests against police brutality are still happening in California and the country, demonstrations in Sacramento have since largely settled, and organizers are now leading demands for defunding the police department.
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