Media Contact

Arianna Fishman, afishman@nyclu.org, 212-607-3372

June 14, 2022

NEW YORK CITY – Last night, the New York City Council passed the FY2023 city budget, which will offer no reinvestments from the NYPD into community services and supports. Total NYPD spending will exceed $11 billion, the largest police budget in the country, which includes funding for two of the most dangerous NYPD units, the Vice Squad and the Strategic Response Group.  

In response, New York Civil Liberties Union senior policy counsel Michael Sisitzky issued the following statement:

New York City’s Mayor and City Council did not provide the leadership our city needs to reduce the size and scope of the NYPD and reinvest in our communities. The budget should have included dismantling the abhorrently corrupt Vice Squad, disbanding the militarized Strategic Response Group that has been responsible for brutally suppressing protest, replacing unsuitable law enforcement with trained public health workers as the first responders to mental health emergencies, and building a social safety net that centers services and supports, not handcuffs and accounting tricks that recreate units under new names.

“Budgets are moral documents, and this budget prioritizes criminalization over services that support true public safety - like housing, public education, and mental health support. It’s time to stop bloating the NYPD’s coffers and reimagine what keeps communities safe and secure.”