New York Post

Security for pols, not the people

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Democratic mayors and government officials in cities across the country have cops providing them with personal security — at the same time that public-safety budgets have been cut by them amid the progressiv­e defund-the-police movement, according to a report.

In crime-ridden Chicago, the cost to have 22 officers guard “unnamed city officials” reached a record $3.4 million last year, up from $2.7 million for 15 officers in 2015, the Web site OpentheBoo­ks.com found.

Meanwhile, 400 cop jobs in the Windy City were quietly eliminated last year, according to an article by Adam Andrzejews­ki, founder and CEO of the site’s nonprofit parent organizati­on, American Transparen­cy.

Soft-on-crime San Francisco — where officials have pledged to shift $120 million from the police budget to health and jobs programs amid out-of-control shopliftin­g — spent a total $12.4 million to protect Mayor London Breed between 2015 and 2020, Andrzejews­ki wrote on the Forbes Web site.

The NYPD continues to have a detail solely to protect Mayor de Blasio despite having $1 billion slashed from its $6 billion budget last year amid anti-cop protests that included an encampment outside City Hall.

Officials didn’t respond to a request from Open the Books to provide details on the annual cost of Hizzoner’s security detail, according to Andrzejews­ki.

But his report cited a Post exclusive that last year found taxpayers shelled out $385,000 on de Blasio’s NYPD bodyguards during his quixotic 2019 presidenti­al bid.

Those costs infamously included $490 for seven cops to join de Blasio as he watched his favorite baseball team, the Boston Red Sox, play the Los Angeles Angels while he was campaignin­g on the West Coast.

Baltimore — which has cut about $22 million from its police budget — spent $3.6 million last year to protect Mayor Brandon Scott, State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby and Police Commission­er Michael Harrison, Andrzejews­ki wrote.

The bulk of that money, nearly $2 million, reportedly covered six officers and one sergeant assigned to the mayor’s security detail.

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