A mayor who has been openly anti-cop since the day he took office (and before). A zero dollar bail system that turns criminals loose the day they’re arrested. The dismantling of the NYPD’s 600-man plainclothes “anti-crime” unit. Now, Bill de Blasio wants to cut $1 billion of the NYPD’s $11 billion budget to “achieve redistribution.”
Is it any wonder that shootings are reaching highs not seen since the bad-old pre-Giuliani days? Maybe what New York City really needs is to enact tough gun control laws. Oh. Wait….
“I’m excited to say we have a plan [to cut the NYPD budget] that can achieve real reform, that can achieve real redistribution — while at the same time ensure that we keep our city safe, while we make sure that our officers are on patrol around where we need them around this city,” de Blasio said during his daily City Hall press briefing.
“We can do this, we can strike the balance, we can keep this city safe,” he later added.
While Hizzoner offered few details about his spending cuts plan, he would not guarantee that the NYPD’s police force would remain at its current level of roughly 36,000 officers when pressed by reporters.
“We have found a plan that will keep this city safe, that will achieve the billion dollars in savings,” de Blasio claimed during his daily press briefing Monday.
Separately, de Blasio also said his plan would move at least half-billion dollars from the NYPD’s construction and major projects budget to help fund building improvements at youth centers and public housing.
– Nolan Hicks in De Blasio plans to cut NYPD budget by $1 billion as NYC shootings spike