Police Commissioner Dermot Shea Says NYPD Is Working To Assist Rikers Island Amid Staffing Shortages
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- New York City Police Commissioner Dermot Shea is speaking out about the crises at Rikers Island, which includes staffing shortages.
He says the department is working to assist with resources there.
"We got a request to alleviate some of the pressure, if you will, on the Rikers staffing ... We have a discussion going on right now how to free up resources. As you can imagine, it's a challenging time right now. We're already down thousands of officers from our peak, but we will answer the call, as we always do," Shea said.
Earlier this week, Mayor Bill de Blasio unveiled reforms at Rikers, which include reopening once-shuttered areas to ease overcrowding and fixing infrastructure problems like broken cell doors.
