Two years ago, we endorsed and enthusiastically supported Eric Adams for mayor because he stood out as the city’s best hope for getting serious on fighting crime.
He just called that into question, by announcing he means to cancel the next five Police Academy classes, a “plan” projected to bring the ranks of the NYPD down to 29,000 officers by the end of fiscal year 2025.
That’s back toward pre-Giuliani levels — and inevitably will lead toward pre-Giuliani levels of public safety, as well.
(Yes, today’s NYPD is far more professional, and command ranks far smarter — but a host of laws passed in recent years limit the effectiveness of the force and every member of it.)
And, in reality, the force would shrink more than the projected 4,500: Making the job harder for everyone (which less available backup ensures) guarantees a faster rate of retirements and resignations.
The force’s quality could plummet, too, as officers rush to find jobs elsewhere and other locales poach the finest of New York’s Finest.
Nor would it bring the promised savings: Overtime would have to soar, since any crisis would mean calling in cops from a smaller base.
Plus, as Adams himself put it while running for mayor, “The prerequisite to prosperity is public safety.”
And a more dangerous city is a less prosperous one — Adams is giving every business another reason to flee or just close, and potential new companies a huge reason to open elsewhere; property values will drop, too: This will decimate the tax base.
What is the mayor thinking — that slashing the NYPD is politically easier?
Short-term, that’s likely true: Most of the City Council dislikes cops, and the police unions have little power in Albany or city politics.
That’s in stark contrast to the teachers union (and other educational special interests), which commands huge power — such that, even as the city’s spending $38,000 per public-school pupil (well over twice the national average) for terrible results, the Legislature imposed an NYC-only “class size” law to force the Department of Education to hire even more teachers, despite declining enrollment.
(Yes, the illegal-migrant influx had DOE enrollment up a tiny bit this year, but that won’t reverse the long-term trend.)
Maybe, too, the mayor is thinking that the prospect of an imploding NYPD will somehow get the city more money — making hefty tax hikes politically possible, say, or moving Albany or even Washington to send more aid.
But every other level of government is facing its own fiscal crisis, while tax hikes in an already-overtaxed city will lead to decline as surely as collapsing public safety.
No, no, no: This madness must not stand.
Find and make your cuts elsewhere, Mr. Mayor.
The city spends billions on social services that literally no other local government in America provides — eliminate some of them.
And stare down the United Federation of Teachers: It may have the power to be held harmless budget-wise for now, but UFT members work in the city, and can’t want a return to 1980s crime levels.
Recognize, too, that the voters won’t accept this.
Their anger at rising crime put you in office — if you sell them out on that issue now, they’ll never pull the lever for you again.