The Daily Caller spoke to Paul DiGiacomo, president of the NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association (DEA), about what cutting $1 billion to the police department will do for New York City.
The city council voted to pass a $1 billion budget cut from the NYPD late Tuesday after protesters began to camp out in front of City Hall in NYC, vowing to remain until their demands were met. (RELATED: NYC Passes Budget That Will Defund The NYPD By $1 Billion)
Police officers and protesters alike were disappointed with the decision, however. Many activists and lawmakers complained that the cut was not what they asked for, and officers like DiGiacomo raised concerns regarding policing moving forward.
“It’s going to diminish the police department, which is going to affect policing moving forward for the people of New York City,” DiGiacomo told the Daily Caller. “And it, plain and simple, is going to be more victims of crime in New York City.”
“With less cops, there’s gonna be less people to have as backup out on the streets. It’s going to be dangerous not only for the police patrolling, for the detectives, for policing in general, but most importantly it’s going to be dangerous for the law-abiding people of this city.”
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DiGiacomo detailed other concerns about cutting the police budget and suggested that the city council should increase it so that the NYPD could “better train the police department on how to police.” He slammed new laws that have recently gone into effect following uproar over the death of George Floyd while condemning the actions of the officer responsible.
“What happened to Mr. Floyd was despicable and was terrible behavior by any member of society, let alone [it] be a police officer,” DiGiacomo said. “I think that police officer’s actions has set back law enforcement 50 years. We have come a long way before that incident and it’s all seemed to have gone away now, all the good that police do, was all forgotten about because of one individual’s bad decisions.”