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Saturday, Aug. 1, 2020

Have many US cities moved to cut police spending following the wave of protests that began in June?

Christopher Hutton, Gigafact
yes

Protests following the death of George Floyd often included calls to "defund" the police, which in many places has come to mean reducing police budgets to fund mental-health and other social needs. By the end of June, Axios reported, leaders in at least 19 cities were moving to respond, including Baltimore, Portland and Philadelphia. The moves fall short of some protestor demands, but mark an abrupt reversal of previous plans of elected officials.

Los Angeles is moving to cut $150 million from its budget, about 8% of a proposed police budget of $1.86 billion. A Black Lives Matter group had called for a 90% cut.

In Minneapolis, the city council has unanimously endorsed a more far-reaching proposal to "dismantle" its department, but the move requires voters in November to approve amending the city's charter.

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