Portland cuts police budget over force, injustice

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) — City commissioners in Portland have voted to cut nearly $16 million from the Portland Police Bureau's budget in response to concerns about police brutality and racial injustice.

The cuts approved Wednesday are part of a city budget passed by the commissioners with a 3-1 vote. The police budget had stood at about $240 million before the commission action.

The money saved by eliminating the gun reduction violence team, school resource officers and transit officers will be redirected to social service programs.

Chloe Eudaly, the lone commissioner to vote no on the cuts, said they weren’t deep enough. 

Some protesters have demanded cuts of $50 million for police, but Commissioner JoAnn Hardesty defended the smaller amount, saying the $50 million was not based on a specific analysis.

Hardesty worked for years to transform the Portland Police Bureau from the outside as an activist and was the first black woman on the City Commission when she was elected in 2019.

“What I know is that there are a lot of people taking to the street every night who have not before this month actually understood all the work that community and government has done,” said Hardesty, who proposed smaller cuts to police in last year’s budget that failed.

Thousands of protesters have filled the streets nightly for three weeks following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.