In public testimony, over two dozen speakers from various groups urged the Council to defund 25% ($65 million) of LBPD's budget as part of their self-declared "Peoples Budget." Their speakers said LBPD practices violence that doesn't deter violence, said police don't make the community safer and urged diverting current LBPD sums to other spending items they said the community favors. Not one public speaker from any neighborhood, business or community group publicly urged Council to restore any of roughly 230 officers previously erased/defunded.

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On July 19, 2021, the City Council voted (8-0, Austin absent) to approve a Mayor/Management labeled "Safety Recovery Plan" tied in part to a Mayor/management proposed FY22 budget. The plan, sought by the Council following multiple shootings, doesn't restore any of the roughly 230 erased officers.

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Under the $8.6 million "Safety Recovery Plan" LB taxpayers will spend roughly $4 million for non-police items labeled "prevention" and supported by multiple public podium speakers (some of whom had ties to groups that stand to receive a share of the money.)

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To date, no Long Beach neighborhood group has adopted a voted resolution calling on the Council to restore 48 officers defunded by the Council's Sept. 2020 FY 21 budget vote.

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