Mr. de Blasio’s former deputy mayor, Richard Buery Jr., also chimed in, saying on Twitter that the police cuts did not “reflect a fundamental shift in the nature of policing,” and that the city had failed to capitalize on an “opportunity to begin that journey.”
Critics cited, for example, City Hall’s assertion that the transfer of school safety agents to the Department of Education from the Police Department amounted to a $400 million shift of police resources. The Department of Education already funds the school safety program, sending some $300 million a year to the Police Department, according to New York City’s Independent Budget Office.
The move simply means that the Department of Education will now operate a program it had already been underwriting.
“If you are not spending the money on that agency, if money that agency was planning to spend is no longer in their budget, that is savings by any measure,” Mr. de Blasio argued, during a news conference on Tuesday afternoon.
The mayor and Mr. Johnson are also projecting the Police Department will be able to reduce its overtime costs by $350 million, but it is not clear what basis they are using for that projection, especially when officers are policing frequent protests and crime is rising.
“He’s really just moving money around, and he’s not really meeting the demand of the campaign,” said Anthonine Pierre, the deputy director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, who has joined protesters in front of City Hall to demand Police Department cuts. On Tuesday morning, those protests became more confrontational, which Ms. Pierre said underscored the need for more radical change.
Mr. de Blasio said New Yorkers should have faith in the Police Department’s ability to control overtime because the department is well run.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/30/nyregion/nypd-budget.html
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