The New York City Council has proposed $1 billion in cuts to New York City’s police spending in next year’s budget.
“There is no doubt that this is an ambitious goal, but it is one that the time we are in calls for, both here in New York City and nationwide,” said a joint statement from Speaker Corey Johnson, Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, and other members of the council.
The cut includes cutting overtime, reducing the number of officers through attrition, shifting responsibilities away from the NYPD, finding efficiencies and savings in spending and lowering associated fringe expenses.
“As we do this, we must prioritize the most impacted communities and hear their demands and needs across all areas during this budget process,” the statement said. “Our budget must reflect the reality that policing needs fundamental reform.”
The proposal was met with a negative reaction from the city's law enforcement unions.
“For decades, every time a city agency failed at its task, the city’s answer was to take the job away and give it to the NYPD,” PBA President Patrick Lynch said in a tweet. “If the City Council wants to give responsibilities back to those failing agencies, that’s their choice. But they will bear the blame for every new victim, every New Yorker in need of help who falls through the cracks.”
“As election officials make noise about cutting the NYPD’s budget, their silence about the 13 murders, 49 New Yorkers shot, and 909 burglaries in the city last week alone is deafening,” said NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association President Paul DiGiacomo.
The announcement comes after Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a sweeping package of police accountability measures across New York on Friday.