Mayor Eric Adams’ administration is planning to cut the NYPD’s next police academy class as part of a sweeping reduction in the city budget caused primarily by the multi-billion-dollar migrant crisis, the Post has learned.
The axing of the new recruits — which will be officially announced Thursday along with numerous other budget cuts — will decimate an already strained department that has seen massive losses since the COVID-19 pandemic, sources said.
“That’s the biggest one,” one source told The Post of the looming NYPD cuts.
The pending academy freeze comes as an already-struggling NYPD battle to replace the nearly 3,000 uniformed officers who have retired and quit since 2019 – and as overall crime is yet to drop after surging 30% during Adams’ first year in office.
“This is going to turn the NYPD staffing crisis into a public safety disaster,” Police Benevolent Association president, Patrick Hendry, said of the expected budget slashing.
“Our police officers are being worked to exhaustion, and 911 response times are already rising. What is going to happen when no reinforcements arrive for months on end? Cutting cops puts New Yorkers at risk, period.”
Under the NYPD’s budget for the 2024 fiscal year, the department had the cash to hire 1,460 uniformed officers. The future academy class was expected to fill a large number of those roles after graduation.
The expected cuts come after Hizzoner gave all city departments until this month to slash an initial 5% from their budgets — and warned they should brace for an additional two rounds, totaling another 10%, early next year in response to the ever-growing costs of the migrant crisis.
“Our agencies have done an amazing job of going in, finding efficiencies 3%, 3%. But now to have them go back and find 5%,” the mayor said on 77 WABC Radio’s Miller Report podcast on Wednesday ahead of the looming cuts announcement.
“You know, looking at $5 billion in what’s called the November plan, we have to readjust our budget.”
He added, “It’s just horrendous and it’s painful. It’s going to hurt our services a lot.”
In addition to axing new police academy classes, Hizzoner is also slated to slash migrant spending by 20% and scale back Sanitation Department litter basket pickups, multiple sources said.
“Everything is being cut. Nothing is being held harmless,” a source briefed by the city’s budget director, Jacques Jiha, told The Post.
Department of Education funding for pre-k and 3K is also expected to be scaled back to be based on actual enrollment figures, rather than seat numbers, according to a source.
Cuts to the Civilian Complaint Review Board and the Board of Corrections are also expected, the source added.
The budget trimmings come after Adams estimated the surging migrant crisis will set the city back $12 billion over the next three fiscal years.