Calls to divert police funding to community programs at Lake Merritt vigil

OAKLAND, Calif. - More than 200 people gathered at Lake Merritt Tuesday evening to honor the victims of the deadly shooting that took place Saturday.

One man was killed and seven others were injured.

During the event, some city council members called for a change in how to prevent violence. They say more police officers are not the answer.

Some city council members say that incident is an example for why they want to cut funding from the police department budget for the next two years.

"We need to prevent the type of gun violence that happened at the lake long before it's a possibility," says Nikki Fortunato Bas, Oakland City Council President.  

She is proposing an $18 million cut from the mayor's proposed police budget of $340,000,000. 

Bas wants the funds to go to violence prevention and mental health programs.

"Many of these youths need programs. They need a place. They don't have anything to do," says Bilal Mahasin, an Oakland resident

"Violence prevention would not have stopped what happened on Saturday," Oakland Police Chief LeRonne Armstrong says the situation at Lake Merritt on Saturday would have been a lot worse had it not been for the dozens of officers who responded quickly. 

Armstrong says 60 officers in a crowd of 5,000 saved lives. 

"We had officers on the scene putting tourniquets on people's legs, officers wrapping up people's arms who were suffering from gunshot wounds."  

 The police chief says the department is already understaffed and that a cut would mean freezing 41 officer positions.

Oakland police have fewer officers than San Francisco and San Jose,  but Oakland has a higher crime rate.

"Already, their response is slow," says Oakland resident Rick Paris. He and his wife say their neighborhood has seen vandalism and violence.

They don't want cuts to the police department.

"There are a lot of reasons to have the police around. I've had people shot in my neighborhood. I'm the one calling them and pushing them to come out," says Paris.  

The goal is to make Oakland a safer place. The disagreement is over how to get there.

The Oakland City Council is scheduled to vote on the budget Thursday.