Gov. Gavin Newsom (D-CA) denounced the anti-police movement of 2020 as “lunacy” in a March 6 podcast interview with conservative activist Charlie Kirk. A Washington Examiner review of California grant records, however, found that Newsom’s administration actively funded millions of dollars in grants intended to reduce the use of police officers at the time of his interview.
The Newsom administration’s program has its roots in legislation developed by a hard-line anti-police nonprofit organization.
The grants, worth roughly $9.5 million, were part of the state’s “Community Response Initiative to Strengthen Emergency Systems Grant Pilot Program,” which seeks to discourage the use of police officers when responding to a “crisis unrelated to a fire department or emergency medical service response for vulnerable populations.” Examples of events these unarmed responders should be deployed for, according to California, included those involving “mental health, intimate partner violence, community violence, substance abuse, [and] natural disasters.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, a spokeswoman for Newsom’s office asserted that the grants, which seek to “lessen the reliance on law enforcement agencies,” would not reduce police activity but would rather “supplement law enforcement, ensuring officers can focus on public safety.”
Funding from the Newsom administration began in late 2023 and will extend until April 2026, according to grant records.
“The grant funds will help the unhoused population, Latinx/Hispanic Community members, LGBTQ+ community, individuals experiencing behavioral health crises, victims of violence, and families that experienced a traumatic death,” one award’s description read. Other awards mention “gender nonconforming” individuals and the “black community.”
During his interview with Kirk, Newsom also distanced himself from the term “Latinx.”
The grant program funding these alternatives to traditional law enforcement was allocated by AB-118, a law approved by Newsom in October 2021. Newsom vetoed an earlier iteration of the bill in 2020, AB-2054, reportedly over concerns about which department the program would be administered by.
The Newsom spokeswoman pointed out that the legislation was ultimately passed with unanimous support from Republicans in the California Assembly.
Former California Assemblywoman Sydney Kamlager-Dove, a Democrat, wrote the original legislation in partnership with Cat Brooks, the executive director and president of the Anti Police-Terror Project. APTP aggressively advocated the passage of both pieces of legislation.
The anti-law enforcement organization supports defunding and eventually abolishing police departments, accusing law enforcement of inflicting “community trauma” on black people.
MH First, a project run by APTP, matches the description of programs funded by the Newsom administration’s grant program. It sends unarmed “mobile peer support” to address psychiatric emergencies, substance use, and domestic violence. APTP did not respond when asked if it had received state funding for the program.
“Our purpose is to interrupt and eliminate the need for law enforcement in mental health crisis first response,” a description of the program reads. The root causes of these problems, according to APTP, are “white supremacy, capitalism, and colonialism.”
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The Newsom administration’s police alternative grants were distributed to Oakland, Marin County, Sacramento County, and Santa Cruz County. Violent crime increased by 1.7% in California between 2022 and 2023, according to the Public Policy Institute of California.
Newsom is engaging in what many consider a pivot to the center amid speculation that he will run for president in 2028. In addition to distancing himself from anti-police activists, Newsom criticized biological men who identify as women participating in women’s sports during his discussion with Kirk.
