Richmond spends nearly $7M on social services, almost half comes from police budget

RICHMOND, Calif. - The Richmond City Council on Tuesday voted to spend nearly $7 million on social services, with almost half the funds coming from the police budget. 

The money will be used to form a new community crisis response team, homeless services, youth programs, and the expansion of the department's violence prevention office.

Of the total, $3 million was shaved from the police budget and the remaining funds are coming from a general surplus as well as from eliminating certain purchases and fees, according to Randy Joseph, chair of the  City of Richmond Police Review Commission. The police department's budget is $67 million. 

About $1 million will go to create a Community Crisis Response Program that would dispatch medics and mental health specialists to behavioral health crises and substance use calls instead of police, which is similar to a model in Eugene, Ore. called CAHOOTS and which is being implemented in cities such as San Francisco and Oakland.

Joseph said there will be no layoffs of current police officers. Only vacant positions will be cut.

Last month, a task force recommended the city council shave about $10 million — roughly 15% — of the police budget and divert the funds to non-police response units. While a majority of the City Council expressed support for that, staff said it was not a good idea to cut that much.

SEE ALSO: Richmond police face possible 'devastating' budget cut of $10 million

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story said $7 million will be diverted away from the police department and that up to 22 officers could be laid off.