New York City officials agreed to a ridiculous coronavirus-era budget that will drastically affect municipal services, impose a hiring freeze and gut police funding shifting roughly $1 billion from the Police Department.
After the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis protest have led to calls to defund the police around the nation. New York City is not immune to the requests and protesters have lined up outside City Council members homes along with gathering at City Hall.
Mayor Bill de Blasio agreed in principle to cut $1 billion from the Police Department’s $6 billion budget (17% of the NYPD budget) — would be a tricky “balancing act,” the mayor said.
Sure enough the budget passed the City Council with a 32-to-17 vote for defunding the police. Also, the city canceled the planned hiring of roughly 1,160 officers. Some city council members did not think these cuts were enough while others believed now was not the time to cut police funding while crime is rapidly rising along with protests and riots.
Some describe the $1 billion police cuts as nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Prominent Black activist, Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortezelected, stated, “Defunding police means defunding police. It does not mean budget tricks or funny math.”
When asked about the protesters who say the Police Department budget cuts are just a sleight of hand. Mr. de Blasio replied, “Some people are never happy.”