Far-left Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez thinks Mayor Eric Adams gave away the store this month when he greenlit raises for cops under City Hall’s recent agreement with the Big Apple’s largest police union – after the thin blue line went seven years without a raise.
“We are in New York City, and you’re talking about funding violence prevention outside of the police and yet Eric Adams has just increased police wages by 28%. Is that misplaced?” “The Daily Show” host Jordan Klepper asked the “Squad” member Monday.
“I think so,” the pol agreed while touring Jacobi Medical Center in the Bronx.
“We are now at a point where officially, most officers are paid more than a teacher with a masters degree serving these same kids involved in these same incidents,” added Ocasio-Cortez, who was touting Jacobi’s “Stand Up to Violence” program — in which shootings are investigated by social workers without police involvement.
“We are defunding safety, defunding our public schools, defunding our public pools, defending our parks [and] defunding our libraries,” the 33-year-old went on.
“When we are taking all of those resources and demanding that every single department – except the militarized one – be cut, we are sending a message about who and what we care about.”
AOC’s comments aired on Comedy Central hours after a uniformed female NYPD officer was attacked and struck on the head by a bottle-wielding suspect with 11 previous arrests — who claimed to cops that “God told him to do this,” sources told The Post.
Cops have been working without a new contract since 2017, so the Police Benevolent Association’s tentative eight-year agreement is retroactive.
It grants officers back pay in addition to a 3.5% raise this August and a 4% raise in 2024.
Once the contract gets the green light from the PBA’s 23,000 union members, it would boost rookie cops’ salaries from $42,000 to $55,000 per annum.
It’s projected to cost taxpayers $5.5 billion through 2025.
By contrast — and contrary to Ocasio-Cortez’s claim — starting salaries for teachers with a masters degree range from a little over $68,000 to $83,900 if they have both a master’s degree and teaching experience, according to the city Department of Education.
The United Federation of Teachers – the union that reps teachers in the city’s public school system – has been operating without a contract after theirs expired last September.
Their last raise was in 2021 and they’re currently in the middle of negotiations with City Hall.
Cops are also mandated to work overtime or are called in for shifts on their days off, which has typically ballooned the department’s overtime budget.
But the new deal will elongate their current eight-hour, five day-a-week schedule to 12-hour shift on fewer consecutive days, which experts say could help rein in overtime costs.
Monday marked the second time in a matter of days that Ocasio-Cortez took on Hizzoner.
She slammed Adams last week during a virtual town hall for failing to stick up for retired municipal workers’ healthcare coverage — which some political watchers took as a signal from the progressive firebrand that she’s seeking higher office, or might even want Adams’ job.
The PBA is the first of a host of uniformed unions – representing city workers employed by the FDNY, Department of Corrections and Department of Sanitation, among others – to close a deal with the city.
Adams also recently sealed an agreement with DC37, the city’s largest civilian union, which will gift members a 16% pay hike over five and a half years.
That agreement will cost taxpayers $4.4 billion through 2027.
“Our elected leaders should be listening to the New Yorkers who are turning out at precinct councils and community meetings across the city to demand more police presence,” PBA President Patrick Lynch told The Post in a statement.
“They want to see police officers paid fairly so that the NYPD can recruit and retain the Finest. Public safety isn’t a punchline for a comedy show – in too many of our neighborhoods, it’s a matter of life and death.”
“Giving the men and women who are on the front lines every day protecting New Yorkers fair wage increases is a worthwhile investment that will improve morale and make our city safer,” said a rep for Adams.