SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In a 7-2 vote on Tuesday, the Sacramento City Council approved a nearly $2 million U.S. Department of Justice-backed grant for the city's Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) hiring program.
The grant partially funds 15 full-time police officer positions over a three-year period. The grant then requires the city must retain and continue to fund these positions for at least one more year.
However, just over $8.3 million is set to be used from the city's budget to pay the remaining cost of these positions over the four total years, which is 82% of the hiring program's total cost.
What did councilmembers say about the grant?
When the item came up for discussion during Tuesday's council meeting, Councilmember Katie Valenzuela pushed back against accepting the resolution, instead proposing to reject it. Councilmember Mai Vang shared similar sentiments.
"Crime doesn't have anything to do with how many officers are on the street," Valenzuela said. "It has to do with diverse social issues from drug and alcohol abuse to lack of mental health services, youth services and housing."
Newly-appointed Sacramento Police Chief Kathy Lester defended funding the program, telling the city council that comprehensive approaches to reduce violence need a law enforcement component. She cited gun violence as one of the key issues new police officers are set to zero in on.
"I feel there are needs to be a comprehensive strategy, and that would be one of my goals moving forward," Lester said. "But we are understaffed as an agency to handle these calls."
Councilmember Jeff Harris said he's been wanting to see the number of police officers increase since the 2008 recession. Without a shadow of a doubt, he told councilmembers, "my constituents in District 3 have implored me to have more of a police presence."
Councilmembers Sean Loloee and Rick Jennings also said their constituents would benefit from the proposed police hires.
"I don't think, based on the fact that we are understaffed at this point in time, we can take away from our policing," Jennings said. "They work incredibly well with (social justice organizations) in order to stop some of the violence that was taking place this summer at local shopping centers."
