New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced this week that the city’s police may receive less or the same amount of funding in the city’s 2022 budget.
“The budget is basically going to be flat,” Adams said about the police budget before acknowledging it may decrease. “There may be a slight decrease in the next few months, but it’s basically going to remain flat,” Adams claimed about the $107 billion budget.
“That’s the number one concern right now: public safety,” he added.
Adams campaigned for mayor by opposing defunding police. During his 2021 campaign, he recounted that he told a protester in 2020 that defunding police is not a great idea. “Go back to your community, where there is real violence, and tell me you still want to defund the police,” he said.
In this Oct. 14, 2020, file photo, a protester holds a sign that reads “Defund Police” during a rally for the late George Floyd outside Barclays Center in New York (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File).
Adams’ tough-on-crime platform was reportedly one of the reasons he won the mayorship in November. But crime has continued in the city, the Daily Mail reported:
In January, crime rose 38.5 percent in the city, which has since jumped up to 41.65 percent in February.
All categories of crime have also spiked, except murders. Felony assaults are up 13 percent, while shooting victims are up almost 30, and rape and robbery are also up around 35 percent.
Moreover, in nearly every New York City police precinct, the crime rate has increased in 2022. Breitbart News reported:
According to the publication, which analyzed NYPD crime statistics, 72 out of NYC’s 77 police precincts have seen crime rise this year. Only five are at 2021 levels or have dropped below last year’s rates.
The 110th Precinct located in Elmhurst, Queens, has seen the largest increase in crime as of Sunday, “with a more than 142 percent increase over last year,” the report states.
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The 26th Precinct in Harlem has seen the second highest crime rate increase, NYPD reporting a 122 percent spike in incidents this year. The jump is largely due to an increase in assaults, grand larceny, and burglaries.