New York Mayor Seeks $1 Billion Cut In Funds for Police Department

By Staff, Agencies

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday he was seeking to slash the New York Police Department [NYPD] budget by about $1 billion -- or, roughly, one-sixth.

Speaking at a press briefing, de Blasio said the details were still being negotiated with the City Council, but pointed at capital projects and police involvement in school security as some of the areas that could see cuts.

The funds released by the cuts, de Blasio asserted, will head towards public housing and programs for youth.

The statement came a week after the New York protesters gathered in the City Hall Park to set up a camp in an "occupy Wall Street"-styled move.

The takeover followed weeks of protests rocking the US, set off by the death of George Floyd -- an African American who was pinned to the ground with a knee to his neck for minutes during an arrest.

The demonstrations breathed new air into the movement urging the authorities to "defund the police," with Minneapolis -- where Floyd died -- City Council approving a law to dismantle the city's police force.

In New York, the push to cut the NYPD funds was condemned by the local law enforcement union, with US media citing its head, Patrick Lynch, as saying "the Mayor and the City Council have surrendered the city to lawlessness."

He warned that the decrease in funding will result in fewer police officers on patrol amid an uptick in violent crime and shootings.