De Blasio Announces Partial Defunding of NYPD
Amid calls from protesters demanding the New York City yank funding from the New York Police Department, Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday said the city is going to do just that.
“This morning we committed to move resources from the NYPD to youth and social services as part of our City’s budget. Our young people need to be reached, not policed. We can do this AND keep our city safe,” de Blasio tweeted.
This morning we committed to move resources from the NYPD to youth and social services as part of our City’s budget.
Our young people need to be reached, not policed.
We can do this AND keep our city safe.
— Mayor Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 7, 2020
The changes have been recommended by mayoral task force on racial inclusion. That panel is co-chaired by Chirlane McCray, de Blasio’s spouse, according to WCBS.
“This is a beginning. I want it to be abundantly clear to all New Yorkers. These are first steps to what will be 18 months of making intense change in this city. The work of this task force is crucial,” de Blasio said. “This is a transformative moment.”
Some disagreed with the mayor.
New York’s Mayor DeBlasio has committed that he will begin the process of defunding the NYPD.
There’s no good way for this to end.
— Lauren Boebert for Congress (R-CO3) (@laurenboebert) June 7, 2020
He is literally trying to destroy the City.
— Brian C. Martin (@AustinTx4Life) June 7, 2020
Meanwhile, Fox News host Sean Hannity tweeted a reference to a story from The New York Times about New York City’s population decline.
“More than 400,000 Residents Flee NYC Due to Virus, Taxes, Protests, Shutdown,” Hannity tweeted.
More than 400,000 Residents Flee NYC Due to Virus, Taxes, Protests, Shutdown https://t.co/cg99A513jw
— Sean Hannity (@seanhannity) June 7, 2020
DeBlasio said pulling money out of the police budget is part of “deeper reforms” to address “profound disparities” in New York City.
“Our young people need to be reached, not policed,” he said.
Dollar figures were not released, nor was it clear who would be getting a windfall at the expense of the NYPD. DeBlasio said “details will be worked out in the budget process in the weeks ahead,” according to the New York Post.
Street vendor enforcement will “no longer be the responsibility of the NYPD,” the mayor said, and has been given to an agency he did not name.
“The vendor and administrative enforcement will be moved out of the NYPD, so that code violations will not require an officer whose presence could escalate an encounter,” McCray said. “We are moving forward. We are not waiting for anything or anyone. No one – I say no one — wants to go back to the way things were before.”
City Council Speaker Corey Johnson had earlier called for NYPD to get less money.
“Given the scale of the financial crisis we face and the urgent need for the city to transform our criminal justice system, we know the budget will include meaningful cuts to the NYPD budget. I am working with my colleagues to determine how we can reduce the budget and reallocate those dollars to instead invest in our communities. But this is not just about budget cuts. We also need structural change and transformational reform in the police department, while investing in communities as much as possible during this unprecedented budget crunch,” he said.
DeBlasio also called for greater public accountability in terms of police discipline.
“Let’s make 50-A as we knew it a thing of the past, so we can have transparency in the disciplinary process to give the public confidence,” de Blasio said, referring to the law that shields details of disciplinary procedures from the public.
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