The Eugene City Council Monday is expected to establish a task force to look at public safety funding in the community. The move is spurred by demands from Black Lives Matter protesters who seek a change to how the police department is funded.
Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis said she recognizes community members are impatient for something to be done.
“The issues that we are confronting in terms of structural racism, lack of access to housing, lack of access to health care, lack of access to good education, these are deeper.” Vinis said. “The city of Eugene is not going to solve those with a couple of meetings and a couple of short decisions.”
Some are asking for defunding of EPD while others seek re-allocation of money from the police force to CAHOOTS, which offers crisis assistance on the streets, and has been recognized as a national model.
Copyright 2020 KLCC.
