San Leandro cuts police department budget by $1.7M

SAN LEANDRO, Calif. - The San Leandro City Council has voted to cut the police department's budget by $1.7 million. 

The East Bay Times reports that decision came in a 4-4 vote in a meeting on Monday night that went well into Tuesday morning.

The newspaper also notes that in doing so, San Leandro became one of the few cities in the nation to begin defunding its police in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis. 

Los Angeles will redirect $250 million from police toward health care and jobs programs, the East Bay Times noted, and San Francisco is redirecting police money toward its Black community.

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San Jose and Oakland have not cut their police departments’ budgets at this point.

The city says it will work with the community on how to redirect the money. City budgets from recent years show the police department has operated with $40 million a year.

Speakers also called for the firing of officers who shot and killed Steven Taylor at a Walmart store in April. Taylor was waving a bat in the store. His family said he was having a mental health crisis.

Two months later, police have still not named the two officers involved in the shooting, saying they are facing death threats.