NYPD budget cuts nearly $ 1 billion, but protests continue

The authorities of New York on June 30 reduced the funding of the Department of Police by about $ 1 billion. This decision found both supporters and opponents. The newspaper writes about this. The New York Times.

"The $ 88,1 billion budget (up from the previously expected $ 95,3 billion) reflects the economic slowdown that followed the outbreak, causing a revenue deficit of $ 9 billion," the statement said.

However, it was not only the virus that caused the budget cut. Protests following the murder by police of George Floyd in Minneapolis led to calls to disband the police across the country, including in New York. Here, protesters from June 23 began to gather under the city hall, as well as near the houses of city council members, demanding the dissolution of the police.

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Mayor Bill de Blasio and council spokesman Corey Johnson agreed in principle to cut $ 1 billion from the Police Department's $ 6 billion operating budget. But to do so successfully - especially when crime rates and gunfights are on the rise - would be a tricky “balancing act,” the mayor said.

However, in the early morning hours of July 1, the New York City Council adopted a budget for fiscal year 2021. The document was supported by 32 deputies, 17 were against (on average, opponents are usually smaller when voting on the draft main financial document).

The city decided to cancel the planned hiring of about 1160 employees, as well as to deprive the police of such functions as monitoring illegal trade, homeless people on the streets and school safety.

Supporters of Police Department reform called the cuts insufficient. City councilors were divided, with some agreeing, while others arguing that police funding should not be cut in the face of rising crime. “Blacks want to be safe like everyone else, we just want to be respected,” said City Councilor Daneek Miller, co-chair of the Black, Hispanic and Asian faction of city councilors who opposed the downsizing of the Police Department. ... "We cannot allow people outside our community to lecture us about black life and what we need in our communities."

Johnson, who runs for mayor next year, said during a virtual press conference that he feels that he is between the demands of conflicting groups, not being able to do what he intended to do. (He confirmed the information that his partner’s apartment building in Brooklyn was vandalized with red paint, as previously reported on social networks).

He also explained that the $ 1 billion figure was only achieved by including $ 163 million in additional or "related costs." “I know there are a lot of people who are disappointed that we were not able to go further, I am also disappointed,” Johnson said just before the Council vote was taken. "I wanted us to go further."

And although Bill de Blasio agreed to cancel the planned hiring of new police officers in July, nobody canceled similar plans for October.

As for the rest of the city's workforce, including teachers - but excluding those working in health and safety, such as firefighters and paramedics - they will continue to work next year, but they will not recruit new staff. “If we have a recruitment moratorium on every city agency, then that should apply to the NYPD,” said Jumaane Williams, the city's public attorney, during a speech Tuesday morning.

Others called the Police Department's $ 1 billion budget cut dust in the eye. Critics included prominent black activists, elected officials such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and longtime allies of the mayor, such as actress and former governor candidate Cynthia Nixon. “Cutting the police budget means cutting the police itself,” said Ocasio-Cortez. "This doesn't mean budget tricks or fun math."

Former deputy mayor Richard Buery Jr. also wrote on his Twitter page that police spending cuts “do not reflect a fundamental shift in the way police work,” and that the city wasn’t able to take the “opportunity to start this journey.”

Critics have referred, for example, to the City Hall’s claim that the transfer of school security agents to the Department of Education from the Police Department cost $ 400 million. The Department of Education is already funding a school safety program, sending about $ 300 million a year to the Police Department, according to the New York City's Independent Budget Office.

The move simply means that the Department of Education will now implement the program it has already signed up to. “If you don’t spend money on this agency, if the money that this agency planned to spend is no longer in its budget, then it’s savings in any way,” the mayor said during a press conference on June 30.

De Blasio and Johnson also predict that the Police Department will be able to cut its overtime costs by $ 350 million. However, it is unclear on what basis they make such a forecast, especially when crime is growing in the city and protests are being held.

"He's really just moving funds, and he doesn't really qualify for the campaign," said Anthonine Pierre, deputy director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, which has joined protesters in front of City Hall to demand cuts. at the Police Department. On Tuesday morning, the protests took on a more confrontational character, which the activist said highlighted the need for more radical change.

De Blasio, in turn, said that the Police Department is well managed. “We now have very good leadership at the NYPD, finding ways to use overtime when absolutely necessary, but not overuse it,” the mayor said.

However, Williams, whom some activists want to run for mayor next year, is not convinced of this. On Tuesday, he pointed out an unclear situation in the city charter requiring public defenders to sign a warrant authorizing the collection of property taxes, which form the basis of the city budget. He said that he would not sign this warrant unless the city eliminated the next group of police officers.

Not a single public lawyer refused to sign the warrant, and it is unclear whether his actions, which he threatened, would really prevent the city from collecting taxes. Spokeswoman de Blasio and Johnson said Williams did not have the power to hold the budget, and Roderick Hills, a professor of law at New York University, who described William’s analysis of the city’s charter as “completely absurd,” shares this view.

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The adoption of the budget itself takes place in unprecedented times. New York had to close a gaping 9 billion budget deficit caused by the near-complete cessation of economic activity in the wake of the pandemic. The city is only slowly starting to return to its former life, and its economic future remains foggy.

The budget includes $ 1 billion in labor savings, and de Blasio still hasn't figured out how to get there. He warned that the city may have to lay off 22 workers in October if efficiency gains are not made in other ways. He also continues to look to the federal government for help and to the state for additional borrowing powers.

To close this gap, he first had to use financial reserves. He eliminated the composting program popular in the city and on Tuesday confirmed that he would cut funding for the Fair Tariffs program by $ 65 million. This program subsidizes low-income public transport in New York City.

On June 30, Bill de Blasio was asked about those critics, including protesters outside the City Hall, who watched the Council vote and who claim that the Police Department's budget cuts are just a clever trick. “Some people are never happy,” the mayor replied.