AUSTIN MAY CUT POLICE BUDGET BY NEARLY $150 MILLION

This week, the Austin City Council will consider one of the most substantial cuts to a major city’s police budget since George Floyd’s death, which sparked calls across the country to defund law enforcement and redirect that money to services like violence prevention, supportive housing, and substance use treatment.

Three City Council members have put forth a joint proposal to shrink the police department’s budget by nearly $150 million and reinvest those funds in services for the community. It would reduce the police department’s budget for the first time in over a decade. Advocates have called on the city to cut APD’s budget by at least $100 million; the joint proposal would do that, and move an additional $50 million from the Austin Police Department budget to a transition fund.

“Our primary response to problems as a local government is policing,” Councilmember Gregorio Casar told The Appeal. “Our community has come together like never before and demanded that change, and set a goal post of $100 million as a signal to that change.”

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Police anti-defunding rally in front of Seattle City Hall

An ongoing debate about whether to “defund” the Seattle Police Department by redirecting much of its budget to social services and community-based solutions played out Saturday morning in City Hall’s front plaza as opponents rallied against the idea and proponents also made their voices heard.

Moments after a “Defend not Defund” rally began with 100 to 200 people in attendance, a counterprotester stationed in the crowd began playing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech loudly out of a large speaker.

In response, some “defend” demonstrators pressed around the counterprotester with signs and many in the crowd chanted “USA, USA,” almost drowning out the civil rights leader’s speech.

Police officers spoke with the counterprotester and then escorted the person to the corner of the block, outside metal barricades. Some in the crowd jeered. As the rally resumed, officers blocked a few dozen “defund” protesters while allowing people who said they were “defend” rally participants to walk past the barricades. 

Demonstrators traded sharp words over the barricades.Lt. Truong Nguyen, a Police Department supervisor there, said the officers were handling the event that way because the rally had a permit. “We don’t want (to have the two sides) clash,” Nguyen said.

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