City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito is breaking ranks with her BFF and calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to hire an extra 1,000 cops, The Post has learned.
The speaker said the additional beat cops are needed to help the mayor achieve his own goals to reduce traffic deaths — a plan he calls “Vision Zero” — and to improve policing tactics and community relationships.
Last year, 176 pedestrians were killed in traffic in New York City.
“We want to give Commissioner (Bill) Bratton and the NYPD the tools they need to ensure that NYPD continues to be the best police force possible. By adding 1,000 cops to the beat, NYPD will have more flexibility and will be better able to keep New Yorkers safe,” Mark-Viverito told The Post.
It’s a far cry from fully replenishing the ranks from their high point in 2001, when there were 40,710 officers. Today that number has fallen to only 35,437.
But it’s an important first step, law enforcement sources said.
According to Bratton’s own testimony, each precinct has lost an average of 60 to 75 officers since 2001. Meanwhile, overtime costs have grown to more than $500 million each year and are expected to hit $580 million this year, officials said.
The cost of adding 1,000 officers, including training and potential overtime for the officers, is estimated at $94.3 million in fiscal 2015 and would grow to $97.9 million in 2016.
The speaker’s call for more police marks one of the few issues on which she and the mayor openly differ.
Two weeks ago, after speaking to recruits at the Police Academy, de Blasio said he thinks the NYPD is doing an “extraordinary job with the resources it has.”
“I’ve felt for a long time, when you see that level of effectiveness and you see it on such a sustained basis, it tells us something about the fact that we’re at a good and capable size right now,” de Blasio said.
Both the council and the mayor have been strong advocates of greater oversight over the NYPD, including pushing for an inspector general and a wholesale revamp of the stop-and-frisk tactic.