Los Angeles Council Votes to Cut LAPD Budget, Reduce Police Staffing

Protesters march past LAPD officers during a demonstration over the death of George Floyd, in Los Angeles on June 6, 2020. Kyle Grillot/AFP via Getty Images

The Los Angeles City Council has approved a $150 million cut to the city police department’s (LAPD) budget for the fiscal year that started July 1.

The budget cut, approved by the council in a 12–2 vote, will reduce the number of officers by 231 down to 9,757 by next summer. That would be the lowest number of officers since 2008, according to the Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles already has one of the lowest ratios of police officers to residents of any major city in the country, according to the LAPD.