Bowser Letter Blasts Council Cuts To DC Police Budget

WASHINGTON, DC — D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser issued a letter Tuesday morning blasting the City Council's proposed cuts to her proposed Fiscal Year 2021 Budget. The cuts include a reduction of $10 billion from the Metropolitan Police Department budget made in response to recent nationwide protests calling to Defund the Police.

"This reduction would result in a level of sworn officers that has not been seen in DC since the 1990s, with seemingly no analysis on the impact this cut would have on the deployment of officers, officer response times to calls for service, and on community and neighborhood safety," Bowser said, in her letter. "Fewer officers would protect a District population that has increased by more than 17 percent, and where calls for police service have increased by 21 percent in the last decade alone. These reductions will be felt across all eight wards."

Bowser also objected to the Council's plans to reduce the MPD Cadet Program.

"Our continued commitment to this very successful program will ensure that there is more diversity within MPD of women and persons of color," she said. "Over half of MPD's current cadets are women and 95 percent are of diverse racial backgrounds."

Nearly 99 percent of cadets who transition into full-time employment as officers or civilian employees remain in MPD, she added.

To offset the loss of revenue the District experienced due to the coronavirus pandemic, Chief Financial Officer Jeffrey S. Dewitt offered a revised FY 2020 Budget in April. Bowser then presented a new FY 2020 Budget in May for the Council to consider.

"Despite having to cut $1.5 billion from the FY20 and FY21 operating budget and $1.2 billion from the capital improvements plan, my budget maintained investments in our core programs and services, provided stability for District government employees, and responsibly used reserves," she said.

In May, Bowser submitted her proposed FY2021 budget, which included a $578,069,493 budget for MPD, a 3 percent increase over the previous year.

In the draft FY 2021 Local Budget Act of 2020, the Council proposed a budget of $534,592,000, including $523,217,000 from local funds, $3,975,00 from federal grants, and $7,400,000 from other funds for MPD.

In her letter, Bowser also criticized cuts to workforce training programs and the childcare subsidy.

"The Council will undermine our ability to help residents recover in the job market and will leave families without affordable childcare," she said. "Importantly, the reduction in workforce development will impair one of our key public safety programs, DC Pathways. I provided solutions to the Council to correct these reductions and maintain these key investments, but funding was instead used for other programs."

Also see ...

DC Revenues Down Due To Coronavirus; Spending Cuts Needed

1/ I urge the @councilofdc to seriously consider several key issues that are broadly problematic for sound budgeting and the operations of our government in the response and recovery from this pandemic and the recession it caused. pic.twitter.com/Fsz3VGi6jS
— Mayor Muriel Bowser (@MayorBowser) July 7, 2020