Decarcerate Utah, a group looking to defund the Salt Lake City Police Department, listed their demands Tuesday, saying local leaders have ignored the “will of the people,” according to KUTV.
In a new declaration, the group claims the police department is overstaffed compared to similar-sized cities across the nation. They suggest the number of employees in the SLCPD be cut in half (from 711 to 356), which would free up a lot of money that could be spent elsewhere.
The group’s demands also include a reduction in the police department’s budget from $79 million to $39.5 million, the elimination of funding from the non-departmental budget reserved for policing operations and investment of the saved funds from the police department into supportive community programs.