Los Angeles leaders have voted to slash the Police Department budget by $150 million. The City Council approved the change Wednesday that will reduce the number of LAPD officers to a level not seen for more than a decade and provide services and programs for communities of color.
It comes amid nationwide demands to shift money away from law enforcement agencies during America’s reckoning over police brutality and racial injustice. Other cities around the country also have cut police budgets or are moving to do so.
New York City lawmakers shifted $1 billion from policing to education and social services in the coming year.
Minneapolis, the site of George Floyd's death on Memorial Day, previously voted to disband the city's police department.
Both President Donald Trump and his opponent this November Joe Biden have stated they're opposed to defunding police departments.
