Anti-police brutality groups made their voices heard Thursday while trying to drown out the NYPD commissioner's testimony at City Hall. NY1's Dean Meminger filed the following report.
There was chaos inside City Hall Thursday as Police Commissioner Bill Bratton testified about the New York City Police Department's budget.
Protester after protester interrupted Bratton as he spoke to the City Council's public safety committee.
Council leaders have been calling for adding 1,000 officers to the police department, but groups that accuse Bratton of overpolicing communities of color wanted the Council to know they oppose adding to the force.
One woman was escorted out of the hearing in handcuffs, and City Councilwoman Vanessa Gibson had everyone cleared out.
Gibson thanked Bratton for his patience. He said it wasn't a big deal.
"I think you're going to see that's a very small number of people that don't want more police in New York City," he said. "Fortunately, nobody's paying much attention to them."
With that, Bratton said he needs more police officers to help implement many of the initiatives he is putting in place. He didn't put a number on it, but said extra officers are also needed to reduce the overtime used in recent months to fight a rise in violence, cover large demonstrations and boost counterterrorism efforts.
"We are in discussion with the mayor's office. The mayor's office will be in discussion with the City Council, As to what the city budget might be able to afford, well, that's the purpose of the discussion," he said.
Last year, Mayor Bill de Blasio said the NYPD's force of roughly 35,000 officers was sufficient, but on Thursday, he opened the door to beefing up the ranks."
"No decisions have been made yet," he said. "We obviously know the commissioner has an interest in some additional resources, and we're going to talk with him about it."
He said a decision that makes sense will be made late next month.