The city of Charlotte, North Carolina is planning to spend over 40% of its $718.8 million budget on policing — that’s roughly $287.5 million! The Charlotte-Mecklenburg police department has 1,972 officers and 520 civilian staff members. 

Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti made a multimillion dollar change in the city’s budget as a result of petitions like this. On Wednesday, he announced that he would cut $100-150 million from the LAPD’s budget and invest it into the Black community instead. We would like to call the Charlotte City Council to do the same.

We call for a reallocation of the budget to initiatives that directly support the wider Charlotte community, particularly historically marginalized Black neighborhoods. We should be allocating this money to restorative and transformative justice programs instead of exacerbating our failed justice system.

Keith Lamont Scott’s murder in 2016 and the CMPD’s recent use of excessive force on peaceful protestors, trapping and attacking them with pepper balls and tear gas, exemplify the need to reevaluate how our city spends its budget. Although law enforcement and 911 exist to ensure “public safety,” this is not the case for certain communities, especially for Black people in Charlotte. Let's save lives in multiple ways: stop excessive spending on policing, support local causes, and speak truth to power.