Cutting Police Budget Puts City In Peril
Editorial

City Councilmember Peter Vallone Jr., chair of the council Public Safety Committee, voiced concerns at a budget hearing last Wednesday about the diminishing ranks of the New York City Police Department, which for some years now, has successfully fought against the quality of life issues that 15 years ago gave the city a bad image in the eyes of the rest of the country and, indeed, the world. In 2006, Vallone was successful in getting the administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg to budget for 1,200 new officers, 800 in uniform and 400 in civilian positions. Many of the new positions have gone unfilled, however, mostly due to a low starting salary. The Bloomberg administration has decided to remove the new officers, intending to restore them in 2010.

The Police Department, meanwhile, expects to lose 2,400 officers this year. Routinely, as many as 3,000 of New York's Finest leave the force in any given year. The largest training class that the Police Academy can accommodate at any given time is 1,800 recruits. Before the first Academy class graduates in June of this year, the Police Department will number only 34,624 officers- the lowest number since 1993. The maximum headcount budgeted under the current administration proposal is 36,868. That number should be between 38,000 to 39,000, Vallone believes. "At some times at night, it is almost impossible to get police to respond to a non-emergency incident because there are two patrol cars for an entire precinct," Vallone said. "We simply need more cops in more places at more times."

Vallone is not the only law enforcement official to express misgivings about the effect of the budget cuts on life in New York City. Queens District Attorney Richard Brown, who with the four other district attorneys of New York City and Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan, also testified before the Public Safety Committee, said that since September 11, 2001, district attorneys' budgets have been slashed by nearly 20 percent- " cuts that have impacted greatly on our ability to provide the level of prosecutorial services which the people of this city are entitled to expect and which will help keep them safe and secure."

Even given a best-case scenario, it will take years to replenish a police force that continues to shrink at its present rate. For this reason, Vallone believes- and we agree- that it is imperative that the city begin hiring more officers as soon as possible. The week before the hearings were held, 360 robberies occurred in New York City. "When there are 360 robberies in a week, that's 360 too many," Vallone said. "We are at a breaking point right now, and if we don't get more officers soon, it will have dire consequences for this city."

"It makes little sense to attempt to remedy the situation by cutting public safety dollars to the point where our ability to maintain the gains of the last 12 years is in jeopardy," Brown added. "I don't want to see us move backward."

The evidence that New York City is beginning to move backward is becoming more visible every day. Squeegee men and three-card monte games are proliferating and, sadly, more homeless individuals are to be seen sprawled in doorways and on sidewalk grates. Vallone, Brown and their colleagues in the law enforcement community are entirely correct- to cut the budget and with it the ranks of the Police Department will have serious consequences for New York City. The price of a slashed police budget is an unlivable city. It is a price we cannot afford.