Local Police Forces Struggle With Drastic Resource Cuts

Since 1997, the New York City Police Department has suffered a steady decline in manpower and financial resources. Budget cuts made under Mayor Michael Bloomberg's watch have brought these numbers to a new low, with the 24th and 26th Precincts, which encompass much of the Upper West Side, losing roughly 30 percent of their officers between the late 1990s and the present.
But despite the cuts, most area residents still feel confident in local police forces.
At Community Board 7's most recent full board meeting, Captain Joseph Pascarella of the 24th Precinct illuminated the gravity of the situation. "In 1997," he said, "the 24th Precinct had an estimated 230 police officers. We're now down to about 150, with no replenishment from the city."
City law requires the NYPD to have a certain number of officers on duty at all times, and without replenishment of lost officers, the 24th and 26th Precincts are finding it increasingly difficult to satisfy this quota. "Currently, we're struggling to meet minimum manning," Pascarella said.
Even with this reduced manpower, police forces in the Morningside Heights area remain largely effective in residents' eyes. For instance, after residents at the September meeting of CB7 complained about unsafe conditions, drug sales, and theft at the Malibu Hotel between 102nd and 103rd Streets, the 24th Precinct set up a police post near the hotel to provide close surveillance of the block. Officers have also taken proactive measures to curb drug sales in the area.
According to Ron Kapon of the 20th Precinct Community Council, crime has generally continued to decline in the Upper West Side despite losses in police manning and resources. In a report to CB7, Kapon announced that crime has gone down by 20 percent in recent months, with the area crime rate falling well over 60 percent over the last decade.
The city-wide cuts to police forces reached new levels in February of this year, when NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly announced that under Bloomberg's proposed budget, the department would have seven percent of its funds cut. In an interview with Newsday, Kelly predicted that the budgetary attrition would result in manpower cuts of approximately 1,600 officers from a force of over 40,000.
Police officers aside, the NYPD has also faced losses in overall finances and equipment such as squad cars.
As of yet, losses in manpower have not eclipsed the influx of some 8,000 police officers during Kelly's term as commissioner. But some precincts, the 24th and 26th among them, are feeling the losses more acutely than others.
Pascarella said no police officers currently have to work overtime hours to compensate for manpower losses, but that situation may change if the situation continues to worsen.
For two years now, CB7 has made increasing the number of uniformed patrol officers on duty a budget priority, seeking to recoup manpower losses in each precinct by some 50 officers. So far, however, the board's efforts have been unsuccessful.
"It's been a budget priority for years," said board member Barbara Keleman, "but other than that, we can't really do anything to get the funds back." As a member of the Health and Human Services Committee, Keleman knows the difficulty for community boards of acquiring replenishment, monetary or otherwise, for losses in human resources.
"These are tough times in the city, and it's hard to determine what's right and wrong in terms of the budget," she said. "You shouldn't be cutting health, and you shouldn't be cutting services, but then, what should you be cutting?"
Keleman, a resident of the area directly below Morningside Heights, said that she has not personally noticed the loss in police resources or manpower. "I don't know about the national crime rate," she said, "but I do know that in this area crime has continued to go down."
Decline in police employment has been but one consequence of budget cuts under the Bloomberg administration, which is facing a sizable budget deficit. Street sweeping services, mail collection boxes, hospital and library funds, and numerous other public goods have been targeted in the name of improving city finances. As CB7 member Helen Rosenthal put it, "Everything's being slashed."