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Mayor Bloomberg Blames Uptick In Crime On Budget Cuts
By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 27, 2010
Modified Mar 27, 2010
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By
Jen Chung
Published Mar 27, 2010
Modified Mar 27, 2010
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Yesterday, after the Daily News reported that NYC crime rates for murders and shootings have increased 22.8% and 16.3%, respectively, in the last year, Mayor Bloomberg took up the topic during John Gambling's radio show. And guess what—he says that it's totally due to the decreasing number of cops due to budget cuts! Bloomberg said, "It is worrisome."
He added, "[Police] Commissioner [Ray] Kelly and I talked at length about it. We have fewer police officers than we did before. More cops always helps." But the Post reports that Bloomberg admitted that crime is "still very low" compared to, say, "1990, when murders hit an annual record of 2,245." (The Daily News points out that last December, Bloomberg said of the city's lowest murder rate on record while the NYPD had fewer resources, "All of the experts said it couldn't be done, particularly in a down economy, but we've done it.")
The city's latest budget might mean shedding about 2,000 cops, bringing the total to 32,817 (it's now currently at around 35,000; in 2000, there were over 40,000 cops). Kelly said, "It's not going to particularly help the situation to go down another 2,000 officers." Something else that won't help? Possible state cuts, which would mean another 3,150 cops could be laid off.
Tagged
Budget cuts
crime
mayor bloomberg
murder rate
nypd
shootings
Jen Chung
Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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