De blasio announces nyc to cut nypd funding, shift to youth services

New York-New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Sunday that changes are coming to the NYPD.

De Blasio said it’s part of a reform plan that he calls a “transformative movement.”

For more than a week, protesters have marched throughout the five boroughs, fighting for justice and equality.

“People did not protest for the sake of protest. They protest to achieve change, and now we must deliver that change,” de Blasio said.

During his daily briefing, he announced several reforms as proposed by a task force on racial inclusion, one of which was shift funding from the police to youth services.

“People from the community, civilians deeply steeped in their communities with the ability to bring the concerns of the community to the highest levels of the NYPD, to bring back answers including the status on disciplinary cases and changes in policing that needs to be done to allow better policing, fairer policing,” de Blasio said.

The initiatives were developed in part by the mayor’s task force on racial inclusion and equity, co-chaired by his wife, Chirlane McCray.

“We must use this moment to transform our pain, to be stronger, and take action,” McCray said.

Regarding vendor enforcement, McCray said, “The vendor and administrative enforcement will be moved out of the NYPD, so that code violations will not require an officer whose presence could escalate an encounter. We are moving forward. We are not waiting for anything or anyone. No one – I say no one – wants to go back to the way things were before.”

De Blasio said, “The details will be worked out in the budget process in the weeks ahead. But I want people to understand that we are committed to shifting resources to ensure that the focus is on our young people.”

De Blasio also announced that the city’s curfew would end immediately due to peaceful protests.

Detectives Union President Paul DiGiacomo released a statement saying: “Our work to keep people safe – at any cost – is being drowned out by calls to defund police departments and arrest officers based on a few seconds of video on social media. There is ZERO BACKING for the men and women in blue by our elected officials. Their decisions are based on appeasing the loudest anti-police protesters instead of fact.”

“Police unions have held back progress in New York City and New York State, period,” de Blasio said.

The mayor calls these reforms “a beginning.”

“I want it to be abundantly clear to all New Yorkers. These are first steps to what will be 18 months of making intense change in this city. The work of this task force is crucial,” de Blasio said. “This is a transformative moment.”