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Kelly said he has already reduced the department's headcount by about 1,000 officers in the first round of cuts, partly by delaying its next police academy class.

The mayor has ordered all city agencies to cut spending by 7 percent or $1.4 billion, on top of the 5 percent cut he ordered last month.

Police spokesman Paul Browne says layoffs might not be necessary if they can find other ways to cut costs.

But Kelly says with 94 percent of the NYPD's budget going towards personnel, the department may find no other way.

"If we make additional reductions it has to come out of our personnel stream, and everything will be on the table," said Kelly Friday. "And obviously, since we've already reduced with the first round of cuts, the next round will require layoffs."

Queens City Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. denounced the possibility of cuts, and said in a statement, "If the mayor insists on reducing our police force to levels we have not seen since the '80s, then crime will also head toward levels we have not see since then. In difficult times, it is even more important that the safety of the public remains our priority."

Pat Lynch, president of the Patrolmen's Benevolent Association, wrote an opinion piece in the Daily News Thursday that warned against cutting personnel.

“The fine work of NYPD officers is the reason for the downward spiral of crime over the past decade," said Lynch. "Sadly, that trend may be coming to an end as the murder rate inches upward in many neighborhoods.”

According to CompStat, murders are up 6.5 percent over last year and robberies are up 1.9 percent. But across all major categories, crime has decreased 3.4 percent.

The last time the city laid off police officers was during the fiscal crisis of 1975.

Eugene O'Donnell from John Jay College of Criminal Justice says the mention of new layoffs raises fears of the city returning to that dark time.

"Once upon a time in this city in the 1970s, about 6,000 police officers were laid off, and the history of that is that the city never really recovered," said O'Donnell. "It took years and years until the mid-1990s for the city to make a comeback. That would be a tragic, tragic repeat of a terrible time in history in New York City and every New Yorker should make sure we never get back to that point."

Asked if having fewer policemen worried him, Kelly said it is a concern for both himself and the mayor. But he added the city's crime rate has fallen since 2001, even though the force has shrunk by 5,000 officers in that time.