Several hundred people gathered outside Houston City Hall Wednesday morning while the city council was meeting to discuss its budget. The city plans to increase the budget for police by $30 million.
In 2018, Mayor Sylvester Turner pledged to add 500 police officers in five years.
Wednesday morning, Councilwoman Letitia Plummer proposed amendments to move $11.7 million in funding for the department to other programs. She said the money was set aside for civilian jobs in the department that had gone unfilled.
"A lot of people think we're defunding the police department. That is absolutely not what we're doing," she said. "These are not positions that would be held by a police officer."
She says about 200 civilian positions have been vacant at least six months. Her amendment would have shifted the money toward additional training for police and social programs.
Outside, protesters had started singing and chanting.
"We do hear the people, and we do understand what they're talking about," said Councilman Dave Martin.
"We need to decide and make sure we have the space so we have public input so the people of Houston can determine what that looks like," says Ashton Woods, an organizer of the protest.
At Floyd's funeral Tuesday, Turner said he was requiring additional training and would ban the use of "choke holds" by police. Woods says that executive order would not lead to changes without additional action.
"I'm not here for pacifiers and platitudes," Woods says. "Eric Garner was murdered after choke holds had been banned. You can't keep executive orders on things that aren't working, mainly because we know folks are not enforcing the rules."