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De Blasio Wants $1.5 Billion Cut From NYPD in City Budget

(Gianandrea Villa, Unsplash)

June 30, 2020 By Michael Dorgan

Mayor Bill de Blasio is looking to reduce funding to the NYPD by up to $1.5 billion in the city’s 2021 fiscal budget.

The mayor is calling for a $1 billion cut from the NYPD’s operating budget and another $500 million cut in capital funding. The lost capital funds would be reallocated to youth and public housing programs, the mayor said at a press briefing Monday.

The move comes after calls from elected officials and activists to defund the NYPD and implement reforms. The city is also down $9 billion in tax revenue following the COVID-19 economic shutdown and needs to find savings across all agencies.

The city council and the mayor are mandated to pass a budget by the end of Tuesday.

“My office presented a plan to the City Council that would achieve a billion dollars in savings for the NYPD and shift resources to young people, to communities in a way that would help address a lot of the underlying issues that are the cause of so many problems in our society,” the mayor said.

De Blasio said his plan would achieve real reform while keeping the city safe.

The mayor said the proposed cuts were not intended to punish the NYPD, which has been subject to fierce criticism following reports that officers have used unnecessary force against protesters in recent weeks.

The mayor did not reveal how cuts to the NYPD’s operating budget would be made or if there would be a reduction to the force’s roughly 36,000 police officers. De Blasio, however, said the city is looking to cut back on overtime across all of its agencies. Last year, the NYPD paid out $700 million in overtime.

Mayor Bill de Blasio at a June 29 press briefing (Mayoral Photography Office)

The mayor also said he was considering school safety being reformed as part of the savings. There are currently more than 5,000 NYPD school safety agents and several elected officials have called for the NYPD to be removed from school security duties.

The move would trim about $450 million from the NYPD budget, according to published reports.

De Blasio outlined a clearer vision of his plans to reallocate $500 million in capital funding which would be taken from the NYPD’s construction and major projects budget.

“We’re going to take that capital money and shift it into creating youth recreation centers and public housing,” he said.

“It will be so important for people and our communities overall,” the mayor said, “and for safety and improving the relationship between police and the community.”

De Blasio said he wants to strike a balance between implementing a police reform agenda while helping young people during a time of crisis.

The proposals were criticized by some Queens elected officials but for different reasons.

Council Member Robert Holden said he was against wholesale cuts without considering the long-term effects of such a move.

“One billion 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,” Holden told the New York Post.

Conversely, Council Member Jimmy Van Bramer said he wants a budget that expressly states that the number of NYPD police officers would be reduced.

Van Bramer said that the money saved could be spent on arts and education.

“Lay off some police officers and let’s have an art teacher in every school,” he said.

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18 Comments

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Aristotelian

So, “snitches get stitches” but “Black Lives Matter”, and defunding a police force that is gimped (operationally) by cooperation between thugs is the solution? Take a look at Flint, Michigan, folks. Is that what you want NYC to become?

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CriminalMinds

Annie Get Your Gun! I believe in Police Reform and changes such as the ban on chokeholds.
There are a lot more changes we can make to Policing which hopefully will benefit everyone.
However, I think defunding and police bashing by our leaders including JVB will not help and in fact will make us more unsafe. Does anyone seriously think that violent dangerous crimes are going to disappear as police get defunded. A 17 year old high school graduate was just murdered. This is just one of several terrible crimes in NYC in the last few days. Right now a lot of Lawmakers are siding with the criminals
And with their rhetoric endangering both the Police and law abiding citizens.

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BDB could have done more.

The police operate at a 11B$ budget, which is excessive. The idea is if we divest from the NYPD, and invest in social programs like Homeless Services or Youth and Community, we can keep more people off the streets which in return will likely reduce crime and misdemeanor WHILE helping the people in need. It’s a win win.

I think people have a problem with this because homeless services and youth and development programs aren’t tangible. We can see cops and we know what cops do, its very easy math. It takes time to see the effects of social programs and often times we can’t help everyone so it looks like nothing is being done.

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LIC Direct

Have cops carry flowers instead of guns, water pistols instead of lead, a paint brush, and origami paper a la Jimmy Van Bramer suggestion and a picture of Diblasio to hand to criminals instead of arresting them. All of a sudden let’s care for the people at the expense of the NYPD, how about all the waste, money on the mental thrive project stolen by Diblasio’s wife, and billions more divided up amongst corrupt non for profit agencies running the homeless shelter system and other programs overbilling the city, etc. Why cant the controller, US attorney look into this. .

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#littlejimmy

These politicians can get their own private security – paid for by us. Those of us who have been crime victims, too bad for us – Warren Wilhem, the worst mayor ever, does not care. The vast majority of NYPD members are black and Hispanic. Who are the real racists? The idiots who want them defunded.

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Why does the Radical Right want everything to be PC?

I’m sorry you find this racist, but the vast majority of the NYPD are white. If you knew any facts your feelings wouldn’t be hurt!

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Linda

The governor is sending the state police to NYC to enforce social distancing guidelines at restaurants and bars. Why does he not send them to monitor the protesters who are not social distancing and fine them at places like City Hall. I guess he feels drinking in groups outside is not ok but getting high on weed to defund the police in groups is fine.

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Shelia

In many cases law enforcement can no longer prevent crime or deter it. In some neighborhoods they are not welcomed and can not even respond to a 911 call. The budget cut makes sense. New yorkers who support the NYPD and do not like the budget cuts are choosing to remain silent.

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Johnny Cakes

I’m still waiting to hear the plan after the police are defunded….anybody?

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VV

The police budget was going to be slashed anyway just like everything else in the city.

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Jill

There is not only an increase in shootings in NYC. Try walking into a precinct and reporting a burglary, theft or vandalism and they do there best not to file a report and give you misleading information.

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Warren Wilhelm Jr.

Where’s the billion dollars Mrs deblaziho squandered? In a swiss bank account perhaps?

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ACAB

Fireworks happen in the same spots every night and these lazy cops aren’t even driving by. Good riddance, time to pay for your donuts. Enjoy sharing racial slurs with your security guards buddies.

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