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Investigative Report

Update: At The Peak of The Defund Era, L.A. Received $600 million in COVID Relief, Half Went to LAPD

12:35 PM PDT on March 22, 2022

LAPD officers attempt to hold a scrimmage line as supporters of Black Lives Matter and supports of President Trump face off. (Brian Feinzimer)

Update on 3/23/22: A spokesperson for the Office of the City Controller responded to L.A. TACO's request for comment with the following statement.

"The information on precise ARPA spending wasn’t available when our office created the dashboard last year. It was intended to be a point-in-time visualization based on categories of potential spending listed in the proposed budget, which came before the City of Los Angeles began using ARPA funds. As such, it reflected a proposal on how the City could spend the money throughout the fiscal year and showed the public what the possibilities were. We also clearly noted that actual spending, once it happened, could be different. In January, our office did an initial look back and published a general breakdown of last year’s spending. We will release a more detailed account in an audit later this year."

Roughly half of all COVID-19 relief funds sent to the City of Los Angeles last year under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) quietly went into the pockets of police officers while members of the public called for resources to be diverted away from law enforcement. City officials say the spending was necessary and fits within the guidelines outlined in the legislation.

The city was awarded roughly $1.3 billion under the ARPA, the trillion-dollar economic stimulus package championed by the Biden administration, providing checks and unemployment benefits to millions of Americans. According to city officials, $680 million was transferred to the city last year, with about $317 million going to the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) for “payroll expenditures,” according to city officials.

Outside of public safety, the city has reported spending less than $13 million on grants to support local businesses and boost hiring in underserved areas.