Demonstrators: Don't Hire More NYPD Officers
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A small group of demonstrators protested at City Hall against the possibility of hiring 1,000 new police officers.
More than a dozen folks chanted "No new cops!" Tuesday morning.
Several of them held signs that singled out individual city councilmembers, demanding that they not "betray" their communities by advocating for more police officers.
A council proposal to hire the new officers has become a sticking point in the new budget.
Mayor Bill de Blasio has not supported the move, though police Commissioner Bill Bratton has signaled some support for the idea.
The advocates believe that the additional officers will add strain to the at-times-tense relations between the police and communities of color.
Proponents of the plan say it will lead to more effective and equitable policing.
"Not only do we need that thousand, we need more," Pat Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, told WCBS 880's Rich Lamb. "We need to go back to the Safe Streets, Safe Cities era, where we hired enough police officers to effectively do the job."
Lynch declared that right now the NYPD is 7,000 cops short.
"We have a brand new police academy out in College Point, Queens," he said. "We need to start filling it at 2,000 and a clip every six months. A thousand won't even keep up with the attrition that's leaving, never mind if the number is negotiated down."
Lynch said the NYPD is the only police department in the country that has downsized since Sept. 11.