While San Diego continues to resist calls for huge cuts in police funding, some city leaders have begun lobbying for a comprehensive analysis to determine which Police Department functions could be revamped or handled by other agencies.
“It can’t be sound bites, it can’t be ‘slash this and increase that,’” Councilman Joe LaCava said during a public hearing last week on police spending. “It has to be a more thoughtful approach.”But supporters of reform also say some modest changes could come this spring as part of deliberations over the budget Mayor Todd Gloria recently proposed for the new fiscal year, which begins July 1.
In budget memos last winter, a majority of council members asked the mayor to consider making such changes, particularly where police work could be shifted to social-service agencies or groups focused on homelessness. “If you want to reimagine the department, it should come with a real and comprehensive plan,” Schaeffer told the council Friday. “Otherwise, ‘reimagining’ is a buzzword you are using to defund the department for a political purpose.”
“This is going to take a very, very long time,” said Elo-Rivera, warning reform supporters not to expect too much this budget cycle.
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