Bill De Blasio to defund NYPD by $1 Billion Despite Surge in Shooting

Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday that he’s come up with a plan to cut or transfer $1 billion from the NYPD’s $6 billion budget and would not guarantee the department’s headcount won’t shrink — even as shootings surge across the city.

“I’m excited to say we have a plan 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.

De Blasio and the City Council must reach an $87 billion budget deal by Tuesday that would cut expected spending by an estimated $8 billion overall.

The plan to slash the NYPD budget comes as gun violence has surged across the Big Apple.

The violence continued across the city over the weekend as eleven people were shot in less than 12 hours Saturday night into Sunday night, including in Brooklyn, The Bronx, Queens and Manhattan.

Conservative and liberal lawmakers quickly hit de Blasio over his embrace of calls to ‘defund’ the NYPD through $1 billion in cuts and transfers — albeit, from opposite sides of the issue.

“We have caved to the mob in a moment we know will come back to haunt us,” Councilman Joe Borelli (R-Staten Island) told The Post. “The mayor is smart enough to know that these actions will create a more violent environment in New York.

“This is what you get when you have government-by-hashtag,” he added.

“I’m against wholesale cuts based on protest signs,” the Middle Village Democrat said. “On... (Read more)

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