Increase the Police
City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams this week endorsed the progressive goal of reducing the size, scope and budget of the NYPD. Yet its ranks are already historically small — and it’s still shrinking. In a policy brief, the Manhattan Institute’s Nicole Gelinas points out that the NYPD is the smallest it’s been in decades. Its share of the city budget has shrunk, too — from 5.2% in 1980 to 4.9% in 2021, even as the city’s population grew to just under 8.5 million now from about 7 million then.
And that’s on top of a host of laws that make it harder for cops (and prosecutors) to do their jobs, from making police personally liable if an arrest goes wrong to the infamous “no bail” statute to the discovery changes that make it a paperwork nightmare to even indict a suspect.
In 2000, the NYPD’s uniformed headcount hit an all-time high of 40,285. Today, it stands at just under 34,000 (about 1,200 below the budgeted level) while the department faces record retirements and resignations.
It’s on track to lose 3,000-plus officers this year. City Hall’s recruitment efforts are failing to offset even the raw-number losses — forget about the lost years of experience.
This is why OT is exploding. And as every precinct struggles to maintain its mandated patrol strength, every police-community meeting is full of regular New Yorkers asking for more officers on the streets.
Some NYPD shrinkage made sense after 2000, as effective policing drove down crime to make New York the safest big city in America. But the headcount shrank even more to make room for greater spending on schools and homelessness.
Not that the city’s seeing results from those spending hikes: Worsening schools and out-of-control homeless are among the factors driving families to leave New York — along, of course, with rising crime.
The city needs more police officers, not fewer. We need leaders who prioritize protecting the public over making it easier for criminals to do their “jobs.”
Mayor Adams won office by vowing to reduce crime. His limited success won’t hold up unless the NYPD stops shrinking and starts growing again. #RefundThePolice.