November 12, 2024
WHEREAS, the City of Orange is heavily overpoliced, having roughly 160 sworn officers for a population of less than 140,000, a rate of under 1,000 residents per police officer; and
WHEREAS, the City of Orange is facing a budget crisis which may lead it to cancel many of the events that give Orange its distinct character as a city; and
WHEREAS, as expressed in previous Orange City Council meetings, Orange residents do not support the overpolicing and overmilitarization of Orange as a city, particularly when it creates a large strain on the City’s budget; and
WHEREAS, Orange residents affirmed this by rejecting Measure Z, which if passed would have created a sales tax to further fund the Orange Police Department; and
WHEREAS, Orange spends $60 million per year on police, which is 41.2% of the City’s budget; let it be
RESOLVED, that Titan YDSA calls on the Orange City Council to preserve Orange’s special events and resolve the Orange budget crisis by listening to the people of Orange and reducing the size of the Orange Police Department by 50 percent, which would give the City up to $11 million in extra flexibility to account for future increases in expenditures; and let it be further
RESOLVED, that Titan YDSA further calls on the Orange City Council to look at other measures to cut police spending, including transitioning services away from the Police Department and into other departments, as well as through demilitarizing the Police Department by revoking the department’s AB 481 authorization.
This resolution was passed unanimously by the membership of Titan YDSA.