If there’s one thing the last several weeks have shown us, it’s that our money should be going to the youth.
So apparently believes New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who’s proposed a slashing of the city’s police budget to the titanic tune of $1 billion — despite a spike in crime.
At his Monday morning press conference, the guy responsible for releasing prisoners from Rikers Island in the name of public health said the billion should be redirected to “young people.”
Here’s Bill:
“My office presented to City Council a plan that would achieve the billion in savings for the NYPD and shift resources to young people, to communities in a way that would help address a lot of the underlying issues that we know are the cause of so many problems in our society.”
What are the underlying issues? And in a real rubber-meets-the-road kind of way, how are those underlying issues mechanically fixed?
Don’t hold your breath for definitive answers. Ever. By anyone in charge of your money.
It might also be observed that “savings” could denote a refund where the taxpayers are concerned.
Unfortunately, I’ve noticed that governments, generally, only do exchanges, not refunds.
Bill also said tough times call for “the toughest budget [they’ve] had to do as an administration…at City Hall.”
And he noted it’s a whole new world, including a crisis of “disparity”:
“We’re in a whole different situation in fact than New York City has ever faced in our history – a health care crisis, an economic crisis, a disparity crisis, a budget crisis all wrapped into one and on a massive, massive scale. We’ve gotta focus on those basics health, safety, food, shelter.”
How might all the recent physical damage done to the city affect the budget? No word yet, so far as I can tell.
But, Bill touted, “We have an unprecedented opportunity to change some things.”
That, of course, is not true. There’s nothing “unprecedented” about opportunity for change; people just don’t usually take it.
Either way, Bill’s cutting cash for cops:
“The NYPD is being treated clearly in a specific manner. A number of agencies are being cut quite a bit, but we’re dealing with a specific reality with the NYPD unquestionably.”
Law enforcement is indeed losing weight.
Here’s CBS New York:
Sources told the station there’s been a 19% increase in retirements of uniformed officers since March compared to the same period last year. “What we’re experiencing here in the NYPD is no different than what other jurisdictions are experiencing,” said retired NYPD Lt. Darrin Porcher, who teaches criminal justice at Pace University.
“The lack of support from political leaders is one component,” he said. “The second component is the cantankerous relationship between police and community in connection with police and community relations. And third, you just have external issues, such as maybe family members that may feel a sense of repulsiveness to you being an officer.”
As pointed out by The Daily Wire, the NYPD boasts the largest police presence in the nation, with almost 36,000 uniformed members and 19,000 civilians. And Big Apple officials have called for curbing overtime and trimming the numbers.
For his part, de Blasio will be investing a gargantuan gob of extra dough in the future:
“It‘s important to show that we are going to make changes in this city. We are going to refocus our efforts on young people in particular.”
-ALEX
See a few more pieces from me:
De Blasio Cuts NYPD Budget by $1 Billion, Says He’ll Funnel the ‘Savings’ to ‘Young People’
To Fight Racism, Johnson & Johnson Will No Longer Make Skin-Lightening Products
Find all my RedState work here.
And please follow Alex Parker on Twitter and Facebook.
Thank you for reading! Please sound off in the Comments section below.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member