This North Carolina city just voted to slash $770,000 from police department budget
A police department in a North Carolina tourist spot is getting a budget cut of more than $700,000.
The Asheville city council on Tuesday voted 5-2 to remove thousands in funding from the local police force and put the money toward other city departments, according to footage from a meeting.
The approval comes after the city manager’s office went through a “community engagement process to evaluate investments in the Asheville Police Department, other city departments, and various community programs,” officials said in a meeting agenda document.
Now, $770,000 that had been designated for police is going toward other departments or agencies to offer outreach to homeless people, community engagement efforts, response to animal and noise complaints, and technology for safety and transparency, according to the city. Some of those changes involved reassigning positions to other city departments, including animal control and park wardens.
The decision came as State House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican, has accused House Democrats of trying to defund the police. He had referred to 11 candidates who signed a Future Now Funds pledge in support of goals aiming for a better quality of life, though separate model policies from the organization include “reallocating” law enforcement funds, The News & Observer reported.
“America’s Goals Pledge is not a one-size fits all pledge or an endorsement of a single policy,” Daniel Squadron, the fund’s executive director, told the newspaper. “It’s shameful and disgusting that the North Carolina House Speaker is lying to the people in his state.”
Moore on Wednesday released a statement in response to the vote in Asheville, which has lost 13% of its police force this year due to resignations, the Citizen-Times reported.
“North Carolinians are facing a very real and dangerous agenda to cut critical resources for the police officers who protect their families,” the statement said. “The Republican-led General Assembly will consider all options when we return to keep North Carolinians safe in cities like Asheville that are advertising safe harbor to criminals by intentionally reducing funds for law enforcement.”
Tuesday’s approval takes about 3% from police funding, the Citizen-Times reported. Activists had wanted the budget cut in half.
The changes to the 2020-21 fiscal year budget come as people across the country have called for reducing funding for law enforcement agencies, The News & Observer reported. For some, defunding means disbanding entire police departments, while others see it differently.
“The idea of defunding the police is not, for a lot of us, is not to neuter the police and take away their power and take away the power of policing,” Mark Darnell Marquez, an Asheville visitor, told WLOS. “But it’s to re-appropriate money into community projects, education for the police on community, sensitivity, racial training.”
The idea was in the spotlight earlier this year when protests erupted over the death of George Floyd, a Black man who died in Minneapolis police custody. Four officers have been fired and charged in connection with his death.
Demonstrations over Floyd’s death made their way to Asheville, where video in June captured the city’s police stomping on and piercing plastic water bottles, McClatchy News reported. The footage was reportedly taken as officers took down a medical aid station that was set up for protesters.
And in August, six people were arrested after police say protesters blocked a hotel entrance and “jumped on top of” officers.
Across the country, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data Project said more than 90% of Black Lives Matter demonstrations were peaceful, McClatchy reported.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly described what the goal of the Future Funds Now pledge. The pledge aims to advocate for improved quality of life measures, including better jobs, affordable health care and clean energy.
This story was originally published September 23, 2020 at 10:22 AM.
