If a city’s budget is a statement of its priorities, then Sacramento’s priority is being unable to say “no” to the police — even at the cost of every other service the city provides.
Sacramento gives its police department hundreds of millions of dollars every year, a number that only continues to grow with each new budget season, regardless of shortfalls or crunches. Meanwhile, city essentials like parks, public works and even City Hall itself are voluntarily cinching their belts in the face of a $44 million deficit for the next fiscal year.
Is the police department such a sacred cow that it is sacrilegious to even question it?…