ABC’s analysis of police budget data shows police spending has increased in some of the very cities frequently cited by conservative politicians and pundits as places where Democrats’ defunding has fueled violent crime waves.
The Los Angeles Police Department’s budget is up by 9.4% since 2019. San Francisco’s police budget is up by 4% and Philadelphia’s is up by 3%.
In Chicago, police spending is up 15%, representing almost a quarter billion dollars in new police spending since 2019.
In Houston, where the homicide rate nearly doubled in both 2020 and 2021 before starting to subside this year, local government officials have increased police spending by nearly 9% — almost $80 million — from 2019 to 2022.
President Joe Biden heralded this movement in his 2022 State of the Union address, saying, “The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them!” — a line that drew bipartisan applause.
Perception versus reality
A few cities did try to reallocate police spending following concerns from advocacy groups in the wake of the George Floyd protests.
In Austin, Texas, leaders cut the police budget by about 30% in 2021, proposing to instead spend that money on programs like family violence prevention, mental health responders, and police oversight.
But that lasted only one year. The Texas legislature voted to bar cities in the state from decreasing police budgets, so Austin boosted police spending by 50% in 2022.
In Los Angeles County, where Sheriff Villanueva is engaged in a tight re-election battle, he’s been outspoken for months about the impacts of what he describes as the defunding of his agency, claiming that his budget is being “cannibalized.”
Yet records show his agency’s budget is up about 8% percent — more than $259 million — from 2019 to 2022.
“While the perception may be that defunding is taking place, in fact, the sheriff’s budget has increased,” County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said.
