It's a big change in the nation's second largest city, where the 1992 acquittal of white officers in the beating of black driver Rodney King set off violent unrest that has been compared to the chaos during some protests over the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police.
Other cities around the United States also have cut police budgets or are moving to do so, including an effort in Minneapolis to disband the city's force.
New York City lawmakers approved an austere budget today that will shift US$1 billion from policing to education and social services in the coming year.
In California, liberal Berkeley passed a budget today that cuts US$9.2m from police, while Oakland leaders last week slashed US$14.6m from law enforcement and they are considering steeper reductions.
The Los Angeles vote reduces the LAPD's nearly US$2b budget. Democratic Mayor Eric Garcetti had proposed increasing it in April to help preserve the staffing level of 10,000 officers before facing intense pushback after Floyd's death invigorated a nationwide campaign to "defund" police.
There was no immediate comment from the LAPD. Police Chief Michel Moore said in a statement last month that the cut would require "a top-to-bottom assessment, including how we go about our most basic operations" and said the department already had begun to identify potential cost savings and service reductions.
The move comes a day after the board of the Los Angeles Unified School District voted to immediately cut its school police budget by a third. The US$70m budget for the force of more than 470 officers will be reduced by about US$25m and the money dedicated to "support African American student achievement to the extent of the law," according to the resolution.
Some 65 officers will be laid off and nearly 40 vacant positions won't be filled, Police Chief Todd Chamberlain told the school board.
He told officers that he was resigning immediately, the Los Angeles Times reported.
The school board also called for officers to give up their uniforms and patrol off campus, the newspaper reported.
Board President Richard Vladovic opposed the move on safety grounds, urging a delay.
"We're walking right into this without knowing where we're going, and how we're going to get there," Vladovic said.
Mass protests nationwide have demanded shrinking or eliminating police departments, with activists saying police disproportionately arrest black people and are seen as repressive figures rather than protectors in communities of colour.
Months of social distancing measures, including closing many businesses, have left the city with a drastically reduced tax revenue and a potential shortfall of US$45m to US$409m, according to finance department estimates.
- AP
