Liccardo rejects calls to defund police

San Jose mayor will propose budget that will focus on reform

SAN JOSE » In clear contrast with San Francisco, Los Angeles and other big cities, San Jose doesn’t intend to cut funding from its police department as demanded by activists in the wake of the police killing of George Floyd, according to Mayor Sam Liccardo.

“There’s a lot of work to be done,” Liccardo acknowledged in an interview Monday. “But defunding the department doesn’t help the very communities that have been burdened by structural racism for decades in this nation. The notion we can do without the police is an interesting experiment. I’d rather not be the guinea pig.”

Instead of diverting money from the police department to social or health care services as advocated by law enforcement critics, Liccardo is proposing a budget that will focus on shoring up police reform.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced the city will redirect $250 million from police toward health care and jobs programs, and San Francisco Mayor London Breed has said the city will prioritize the redirection of funds toward that city’s African American community..

And in Minneapolis, where a police officer touched off a national furor over police brutality when he pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck for almost nine minutes while ignoring his cry that he couldn’t breathe, a majority of council members is planning to dismantle the city’s police department.

But after calling on his own police department last week to reassess its use of force during protests — a sign to some activists that San Jose could be on a similar path — Liccardo sent out a news release Sunday saying he doesn’t intend to reduce the police department’s funding in the 2020-21 fiscal year budget, which starts July 1.

He told this news organization San Jose doesn’t have “the luxury” to take a chunk out of the police department’s