Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., intervened in the proposed New York City budget cuts on Tuesday to the police department that said it did not go far enough, saying that “stripping the police means stripping the police “
“Definancing the police means defining the police. It doesn’t mean budget tricks or fun math. It does not mean moving school police officers from the New York Police budget to the Department of Education budget, so exactly the same police remain in the schools, “the congresswoman said in a statement.
Establishment Democrats and progressives have debated what “underfunding the police” really means. Some argue that the phrase should not be taken literally and only represents police reform.
“It doesn’t mean counting overtime cuts as cuts, even when the NYPD ignores all City Council attempts to curb overtime and overspending anyway,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. “If these reports are accurate, these proposed ‘cuts’ to the New York police budget are a delusion. This is not a victory. The fight to eliminate the police continues. “
New York City Council and Mayor Bill de Blasio reached an agreement Tuesday to cut $ 1 billion from the NYPD’s $ 6 billion budget.
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According to the Gotham Gazette report that Ocasio-Cortez was referring to, the deal would reduce the number of officers in the city by canceling its 1,163 cadet class in July. It also includes cuts of $ 350 million for the payment of overtime and various other expenses, such as the travel application and the purchase of vehicles.
The new budget will change school security and school crossing guards outside the jurisdiction of the New York police to account for $ 483 million in total, according to the Gazette.
Instead, that $ 1 billion would go toward education, social services in virus-affected communities, and youth summer programs for more than 100,000 youth.
Cuts to the New York police capital budget are also coming, such as canceling plans to build a new compound in Jamaica, Queens, and instead building a community center. The city also plans to change some police capital funds to install broadband internet in public housing complexes.
The liberal mayor flaunted the budget, which must be approved before midnight Wednesday as real action in a call for justice.
“We are acting on that call to justice. I think our mission is to redistribute the resources to those who need them the most, ”said the mayor. “This is a real redistribution.”
Activists on the AOC side have said they will not accept any plan that simply changes money without making what they consider to be significant changes.
“There is no fun math. There are no cheap musical chairs, “family members of more than a dozen people killed by New York police officers said in a letter Tuesday to the mayor and council.” We will know if he fought for our communities or if he will allow New York police to York continues to be treated as if it is above the law, even on the budget. “
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Public defender Jumaani Williams made a call from Zoom to discuss plans to potentially block the budget.
“If we have a hiring freeze for every city agency, that should include the NYPD,” he said, according to ABC7 NY. “There is no reason why we are not hiring additional guidance counselors. We are not hiring additional nurses. We are not hiring outreach workers throughout the city.”
The president of the Police Charitable Association, Pat Lynch, was also not happy with the budget.
“The shootings more than doubled last week,” he said in a statement. “Even at this time, the NYPD does not have enough manpower to move police to one neighborhood without making another neighborhood less safe. We’ll say it again: the mayor and City Hall have made the city illegal. things won’t get better until New Yorkers hold them accountable. “
The discussion comes as the city is grappling with what De Blasio has linked to a $ 9 billion loss of revenue due to the coronavirus.
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The city’s budget totaled $ 93 billion when it was approved last June, but the proposed budget for this year stands at $ 88.1 billion.
