Mayor of Los Angeles, Eric Garcetti, announced his plans along with city officials to make a substantial cut of $100 million-$150 million to the LAPD’s budget in order to reinvest these funds into “Black communities and communities of color.” During a press conference on Wednesday (June 3rd) evening, Mayor Garcetti insisted that, amid the nationwide protests against police brutality and racial injustice in the wake of George Floyd’s murder, this was an “urgent moment” and  “an inflection point” for the city of Los Angeles. However, he is “committed to making this moment not just a moment.”

“It is time to move our rhetoric towards action to end racism in our city,” he continued. “Prejudice can never be part of police work…It takes bravery to save lives, too.” He then revealed that, contrary to his prior plans, the city would no longer be increasing the police budget from $1.189 billion to the proposed amount of $1.8 billion; instead, he will be cutting between $100 million-$150 million from the LAPD’s budget and a total of $250 million from the city’s overall budget, to be used instead to “reinvest in black communities and communities of color.” He specifically outlined an investment in education, health, and jobs within the city’s Black communities. “We need to make sure that black Americans see an end to the days of murder in broad daylight and of traffic stops simply because of the color of their skin,” he said.

The mayor of Los Angeles is being pressed by the public to take action against the police chief who placed the blame of the riots into the hands of the protesters. It began during a press conference when Michel Moore said that George Floyd's death was equally "on the hands" of looters as much as it is on the police officers who killed Floyd.

"We didn't have protests last night. We had criminal acts," Moore said. "We didn't have people mourning the death of this man, George Floyd. We had people capitalizing. His death is on their hands, as much as it is those officers."

With over 700 people arrested in the midst of the protests, there were around 10 percent of them actually connected to burglary or looting, per Newsweek.

Though Moore attempted to backtrack on the comments by saying that Floyd's death was "at the hands of a police officer and officers who stood by," it wasn't enough for people to urge the mayor to fire Floyd.

"The responsibility for George Floyd’s death rests solely with the police officers involved. Chief Moore regrets the words he chose this evening and has clarified them," the mayor wrote.