Berkeley Promises A Review Of Police Funding, Virus Response

BERKELEY, CA — Berkeley City Auditor Jenny Wong said in a statement Thursday that her office will audit the city's COVID-19 and disaster response and the police department budget in the next 12 months.

She said the office hasn't audited police staffing or the police budget for 11 years and she has "heard loud and clear community interest" in the effort.

In fact, activists across the country have called on their cities to reimagine policing and pare back police funding as the Black Lives Matter and racial justice movements have grown in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis on Memorial Day.

Many cities have started reallocating law enforcement funding and committed to rethinking how they approach policing, and many school districts have moved to abolish their police forces.

Berkeley's city council voted this week to cut police funding but not more than it cut funding for other city departments.

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