Staffing Gap May Prove Troublesome For NYPD
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
As the NYPD prepares to follow the recommendations of Mayor Bloomberg's proposed budget by cutting its staff of civilian employees, some are questioning the effects it may have on police officers and the department as a whole. NY1's Lily Jamali filed the following report.The staff of the NYPD is poised to shrink, but the department won't be cutting police officers. Instead, it will reduce its civilian ranks by more than a thousand jobs. The proposed move is expected to save the city tens of millions of dollars but Councilman Peter Vallone says the cost to public safety will be too high.
"When they say civilian cuts people say thank God they're not cutting police officers. What that means is that cop now has to come off the street, sit behind a desk and pick up those phones," said Vallone.
Under the mayor's proposed budget, in the coming months, the NYPD would cut 1,154 civilian jobs. About 750 are open positions that the department just wouldn't fill. But 395 would be actual layoffs, people in administrative positions throughout the department, including at local precincts.
"In the precincts, they may answer telephones. They may take police reports. Basic analysis for the commander. Filing and getting reports. Making sure the operation runs smoothly," said John Jay College of Criminal Justice Professor Jon Shane.
When Police Commissioner Ray Kelly last appeared before the City Council in March, he said he didn't have an exact figure on how many of those civilian jobs would be filled by uniformed officers.
But he did say the number was "significant."
Shane says it would be better to try to have remaining civilian employees pick up the slack.
"It's more efficient than paying a sworn police officer an extremely high salary to do administrative work. That's not what we want police officers to do. We want them in the field," said Shane.
The work of those 1,200 civilians wouldn't be the only work uniformed officers would have to cover.
New Traffic Enforcement Agents who were supposed to be hired now, probably won't be -- more slack to be picked up by those who remain.
On Monday, the NYPD issued a statement saying, "We would prefer not to have any layoffs. But the fiscal reality required it."
A City Hall spokesperson said no agency was immune from budget cuts, but the NYPD was cut far less than others.
If the City Council approves the mayor's budget, the layoffs would go into effect on July 1.