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Tags: deblasio | police reform | nyc police budget cuts

NYC Mayor Defends $1B Police Budget Cuts: 'Profound Change'

nyc mayor bill deblasio gestures with his right pointing finger as he speaks wearing a lowered blue banana and jacket
(Scott Heins/Getty Images)

By    |   Wednesday, 01 July 2020 09:42 AM EDT

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Wednesday defended the city's decision to cut $1 billion  from its police department as a "profound change" at a time when profound change is needed in the city and nation. 

"We're reducing overtime," the mayor said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe." "We're removing some of the functions that NYPD does now. They will be replaced by civilians handling those functions who can do them better, and we'll take the money and put it into youth initiatives. We need to help young people particularly in this tough time in history."

The money will instead be invested in community centers and other initiatives that will "help us be a safer city in the future," said de Blasio. 

The city will still keep the number of police officers it needs on patrol, said the mayor, while noting that the coronavirus pandemic had resulted in criminals remaining on the streets because courts are not operating. 

"We need to fix that underlying problem," he conceded. "We need to see prosecutions of gun violence. A lot has to happen quickly."

Meanwhile, solitary confinement in the city's jails will come to an end, said the mayor, adding that the city is planning a bigger focus on the Black Lives Matter movement, including moving ahead with plans to paint those words on Fifth Avenue in front of Trump Tower. 

"It's an important message to the nation and we want the president to hear it," said de Blasio. "He has never shown respect for those three words."

The mayor also noted that a commission is planned on racial justice and reconciliation to identify where structural and institutional racism exists in New York City government and in the city, so it can be brought to an end.

"We have to honor and respect the crucial role our police play but also recognize there's been a long history of inequality and racist realities in police forces all over the country that we have to address it, cleanse it, change it, and that's actually the pathway forward to safety for everyone," said de Blasio.  

Sandy Fitzgerald

Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics. 

© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


US
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio Wednesday defended the city's decision to cut $1 billion  from its police department as a "profound change" at a time when profound change is needed in the city and nation. 
deblasio, police reform, nyc police budget cuts
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2020-42-01
Wednesday, 01 July 2020 09:42 AM
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