A troubling homicide rate has the Los Angeles Police Department on high alert as the agency grapples with carrying out $150 million in budget cuts approved by the City Council earlier this year.
But LAPD proposed Tuesday expanding its funding for the coming fiscal year by over $100 million.
The Police Commission unanimously approved that measure even as the city itself grapples with a coming budget deficit of at least $400 million. Chief Michel Moore described the expansion to LAPD’s $1.8 billion budget as a “measured and fiscally conservative” attempt to fund law enforcement at a critical time, KTLA reports.
Over the weekend, the number of killings in L.A. so far this year surpassed 300 — more than any other year in the past decade. That marks an increase of 25% from last year as well as a 32% rise in the number of shootings in the city.
