Dozens protest SLO police budget increase after City Council’s 5-0 approval
A group of about 75 gathered Friday at Cheng Park in downtown San Luis Obispo to protest the City Council’s decision to increase police funding.
The rally was organized in response to the council’s 5-0 vote Tuesday to increase the police budget, even after several public speakers and those who wrote in called for reallocation of funding to city social service needs, including mental illness and homelessness.
As part of the city’s $202 million, two-year budget, the San Luis Obispo Police Department will receive $19.14 million in 2021-22 and $20.05 million in 2022-23, making up about 20% of the city’s total funding. That’s up from police spending totaling $17.63 million in 2019-20 and $17.8 million in 2020-21.
“Violent crime doesn’t exist to the extent that we need as many police officers as there are in SLO, and the department could choose to not fill some positions that are vacant in place of social workers,” said Marshall James, a SLO resident who also lobbied to divest in police at Tuesday’s meeting. “We have a City Council that has opted for a conservative approach to police instead of a progressive one and groups such as R.A.C.E. Matters, NAACP and others have repeatedly talked about how uncomfortable police make them feel.”
The city doesn’t have a social services department, as does the county, but is allocating some funding to specific needs.
Council members and new Police Chief Rick Scott on Tuesday defended the city’s approach, pointing to new spending on a social worker, mobile crisis unit (with a paramedic and social worker), and funding toward a 25% expansion of 40 Prado homeless shelter.
“As we talk about quantity of policing, let’s keep in mind quality of policing,” San Luis Obispo Mayor Heidi Harmon said at the meeting. “We want well-educated, qualified folks with experience who also share the values of this community.”
Where the money is going
Scott said the budget is largely tied to personnel costs, with little wiggle room for operational cuts.
“Our department’s budget is 93% salaries and benefits for our personnel,” Scott said Tuesday. “We have very little operating cost, which is about 7%, and we’ve steadily tried to cut costs and save in areas where we could over the past few years.”
Scott said the Police Department’s call load has increased 15% over the past 10 years, and staffing hasn’t kept up with that demand.
The council also will commit $2 million to diversity, equity and inclusion, including $40,000 toward a feasibility study for a multicultural center, recommended by the city’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Task Force.
But protesters said that the council needed to find ways to do better to help mentally ill people, the homeless and people of color.
“Going back to the 100 or so protests last summer and the calls and letters from SLO residents before the last meeting, the council isn’t listening to the voices of people,” Liese Foote said. “People have been disenfranchised, and they chose to increase the police budget, which is the opposite of what we’ve been calling for.”
Protesters at the rally held signs with messages such as “Stop Racist Police Terror” and “Defund SLO Police, Invest in Our Community.”
The event was organized by Abolitionist Action Central Coast with members of other activist groups participating.
“The city needs to realize that by criminalizing behavior such as homelessness and mental health, they’re not addressing the root causes of these issues,” said Coleman Pinkerton, who said he’s a member of the Party for Socialism and Liberation.
On Tuesday, Councilmember Erica Stewart said she’s satisfied with the work the city is doing to support police while thinking about ways to best address diversity, equity and inclusion.
“I don’t get as many stories of people have things happen here in SLO and I think it’s really important for me to say because when we make policy decisions we base them on what’s happening here in SLO,” Stewart said. “The DEI Task Force was a short period of time (meeting over a four-month window), and there were a lot of wonderful recommendations that came from the DEI Task Force and that’s how this budget came to be.”
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