The mayor made his pledge following 10 nights of mass protests against police violence and mounting demands for an overhaul of the police department.
Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday pledged for the first time to cut the city’s police funding, following 10 nights of mass protests against police violence and mounting demands that he overhaul a department whose tactics have caused widespread consternation.
The mayor on Sunday declined to say precisely how much funding he planned to divert to social services from the New York Police Department, which has an annual budget of $6 billion, representing more than 6 percent of Mr. de Blasio’s proposed $90 billion budget.
Mr. de Blasio said the details would be worked out with the City Council in advance of the July 1 budget deadline.
“We’re committed to seeing a shift of funding to youth services, to social services, that will happen literally in the course of the next three weeks, but I’m not going to go into detail because it is subject to negotiation and we want to figure out what makes sense,” Mr. de Blasio said.
As recently as Friday, Mr. de Blasio expressed skepticism about cutting police funding, even as he noted that all city agencies might face cuts, absent more financial assistance from the federal government.
