Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that he came up with a plan to cut or transfer $ 1 billion from the New York Police Department’s $ 6 billion budget and would not guarantee that department staff will not be reduced, even to As shootings increase throughout the city.
“I am excited to say that we have a plan that can achieve real reform, that can achieve real redistribution, while making sure that we keep our city safe, while making sure that our officers are patrolling around where we need to be around this city ”, said de Blasio during his daily press conference at the Town Hall.
“We can do this, we can strike a balance, we can keep this city safe,” he added later.
While Hizzoner offered few details about his spending cut plan, it would not guarantee that the New York police force remains at its current level of approximately 36,000 officers when pressured by journalists.
“We have found a plan that will keep this city safe, which will reach $ 1 billion in savings,” de Blasio said during his daily press conference on Monday.
Separately, de Blasio also said his plan would move at least $ 500 million from the New York Police construction budget and major projects to help finance building improvements in youth centers and public housing.
De Blasio and the City Council must reach a $ 87 billion budget deal by Tuesday that would reduce expected spending by an estimated total of $ 8 billion.
The plan to cut the New York police budget comes as gun violence has escalated in the Big Apple.
Violence continued across the city over the weekend when eleven people were shot in less than 12 hours Saturday night through Sunday night, including in Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and Manhattan.
Conservative and liberal lawmakers quickly beat up de Blasio for his acceptance of calls to ‘underfund’ the New York police through $ 1 billion cuts and transfers, albeit from opposite sides of the issue.
“We have collapsed before the mafia at a time that we know will come back to haunt us,” Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post. “The mayor is smart enough to know that these actions will create a more violent environment in New York.
“This is what you get when you have government by hashtag,” he added.
Borelli’s counterpart in Queens, Councilman Robert Holden, echoed the complaints.
“I am against wholesale cuts based on protest signs,” said the Middle Village Democrat. “A trillion dollars is an arbitrary number that the mayor and some of my colleagues are trying to reach to appease the masses without considering public safety.”
Liberal activists and lawmakers also criticized de Blasio’s floating plan.
“New Yorkers marching on our streets for #BlackLivesMatter #DefundNYPD will NOT be pleased to move NYPD Security Officers to @NYCschools [Department of Education] budget, “Councilman Ben Kallos (D-Manhattan) tweeted.” That’s an accounting trick, not #TransformPolice. “
Kallos was joined by another liberal, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer (D-Queens), who tweeted that “he is demanding a budget that #DefundNYPD for $ 1B real and reinvest that $$ in education.”
When pressed during the briefing, de Blasio acknowledged that the $ 1 billion target for the NYPD’s $ 6 billion budget was due in part to weeks of mass protests that followed the George Floyd police murder in Minneapolis. .
“The NYPD is clearly being addressed specifically,” he said in response to questions.
“A number of agencies have been reduced quite a bit, but we are dealing with a specific reality with the NYPD, without question,” added Hizzoner. “That is because it is important to demonstrate that we are going to make changes in this city.”
The math and politics behind cutting the New York police budget are complicated, even among left-wing City Council legislators.
The Progressive Caucus struggled to take a position on how deeply to cut the New York police budget and ended up retweeting a June 16 statement from President Corey Johnson and other top lawmakers who backed $ 1 billion cuts, including “pushing away the responsibilities of the New York Police. “
The proposals at the time included moving school security to the Department of Education and enforcement of the parking law to the Department of Transportation. Both roles were merged into New York Police in the 1990s by then Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
“This is New York City, we need the police. We do it, “Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuels (Brooklyn Democrat) told the Post in June.” But how to monitor is the new conversation. “
The mayor commented on the recent increase in gun violence in the Big Apple, saying, “You know, I am very concerned about the increase in shooting. We have to make sure we can handle that.”
“I am convinced that we have struck that balance,” he said.
– Additional reports from Craig McCarthy and Natalie Musumeci
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