The Guardian reports that California cities spent a large chunk of their COVID relief money on police departments. Given the effects of COVID on police departments, the mass resignations and retirements of officers across the country, and the surge in homicides, that is completely unsurprising.
San Francisco allocated 62% of its relief funds to police and the sheriff’s department (with the rest going to the fire department). Los Angeles spent roughly 50% on its police department, and Fresno spent roughly 40%.
The Guardian piece, written by Sam Levin, complains that several California cities spent more on their police departments than on housing initiatives, COVID tracing, and various welfare programs, “even as the crime rate remains significantly lower than previous decades.”
But this is a misleading statistic. The more important number is how many police officers these cities need but cannot hire, often because their politicians have been so hostile and the risks of the job have gotten worse.
In August 2021, it was reported that the LA Police Department had nearly 300 open officer positions and nearly 500 fewer officers on duty than it had at the same time in 2020. Earlier this year, the department was short an additional 500 officers because of COVID quarantines. Meanwhile, 2020 broke the city’s 12-year trend of decreasing homicides. And 2021 saw 397 homicides, the most in the city since 2006.
San Francisco also saw a surge in homicides and shootings as well as burglaries, thefts, and car break-ins. The city has been wrestling with a police shortage of around 400 officers. It has had trouble recruiting, and it has placed several more officers on leave because of its vaccine mandate. Fresno also had an increase in homicides, and San Diego began the year with a dramatic spike in violent crime.
It turns out that it was not such a great strategy to drive officers off the job by embracing anti-police rhetoric amid a surge in homicides. California’s soft-on-crime attitude has real effects, and those effects are compounded when Democratic city leaders refuse to stand behind their police. After all, those officers can often go take jobs in pleasant places such as Montana or Idaho, where the risks are lower, the pay is comparable, and there’s no need to deal with toxic California politicians.
Given that much of the COVID relief funds were used for things other than COVID anyway, it seems reasonable to use them to return police departments to full staffing, especially considering that violent crime is soaring.
Maybe California cities can begin directing more funds to housing initiatives and other welfare programs when they get a handle on homicides. But the rule of law and keeping residents from being shot should probably be the top priority for any city — especially any city failing in those areas.
