Council votes to cut $700,000 from Asheville police budget

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — The Asheville City Council voted 5-2 Tuesday night to cut police department funding.

Under the budget amendment, $770,000 would be reallocated to other city departments.

People in the crowd outside city hall said they were disappointed by decision and they will continue to protest until the city respects Black people.

One of the largest parts of the cut would come from reassigning animal control positions to a different department, eliminating $220,000.

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The proposal would also eliminate one assistant to the chief of police. Another $300,000 would come from reassigning telecommunicator positions to another department.

BREAKDOWN OF ASHEVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT EMPLOYEES AS CITY CONSIDERS HOW TO HANDLE FUNDING

But some social justice advocates believe the proposal falls far short of what's needed for meaningful change. Local groups had demanded a 50% reduction in APD funding, but what the city council will discuss equals about a 3 percent cut.

Some people downtown Tuesday afternoon said the defund movement has gotten a bad wrap, that just because they support defunding doesn't mean they don't like police. They said it is more about rethinking the police department.

One man said he knows the police have a tough job, but he doesn't support the militarization of police that has been happening. That's why he said funds need to be shifted.

"The idea of defunding the police is not, for a lot of us, is not to neuter the police and take away their power and take away the power of policing. But it’s to re-appropriate money into community projects, education for the police on community, sensitivity, racial training," said Mark Darnell Marquez, who was visiting from Philadelphia.