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Heated debate lingers over possible increase to Sacramento Police Department’s budget

The differing views have become a key sticking point in the budget debate. Who deserves more money to actually tackle crime across the city?

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Jamilia Land with Crime Survivors for Safety and Justice is speaking out after the Sacramento City Council launched a heated debate over possibly increasing the police department’s budget in the face of rising crime numbers.

In 2020, there were 43 people killed in Sacramento, an increase of nearly 30% over the 34 people murdered in 2019. In 2021 so far, the city has already seen 21 people killed.

“These youth today, they have more RIP t-shirts than they have prom pictures and graduation celebrations,” Land said.

Sacramento Police Association President Timothy Davis said the numbers tell the story. Sacramento has 702 sworn employees, which is 102 fewer than in 2008 despite a population increase of 40,000 people over the same time period. It leaves the department to turn to mandatory overtime to cover staffing issues.

“We want to be able to keep people safe, and we can’t do that at the staffing levels that we are at right now,” Davis said. 

“Our officers are exhausted because mandatory overtime occurs," he added. "There have been periods of time in the last year where they have had to work 7 days a week, 12 hours a day.”

To that point, the Sacramento Police Association wants to add an additional $10 million dollars each year for the next four years to the police budget to help cover 50 new police officers each year for the next four years. 

The union said the 2021/2022 budget includes $5 million dollars for improvements in technology and equipment, including body cameras and the corresponding IT infrastructure.

Land feels portions of that money could be better spent in the community, using those resources to "build an infrastructure of services that deal with the issues that cause people to find themselves having to deal with criminal behavior in their community."

The differing views have become a key sticking point in the budget debate. Who deserves more money to actually tackle crime across the city? Police or community organizations? 

On Tuesday, Sacramento Police Department proposed a $165.9 million budget, an all-time high for the city.

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