On Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the NYPD officers will be patrolling neighborhoods in cars and on foot in response to the recent “very troubling” uptick in shootings in the city.
Between Friday, June 19 and Sunday, June 21, 28 shootings took place in the city, according to the mayor, with 18 occurring on Saturday night.
The additional officers will be taken off desk duty and placed in the Bronx and to the Brooklyn North precinct, the mayor said, as part of the NYPD’s ‘Summer All Out’ initiative.
“We know in the warmer months, historically, unfortunately, there have been more shootings. We know that there is some impact from what has happened over the months and months with coronavirus,” said de Blasio.” We know that there are instances of retaliation between one gang and another.”
In order to prevent retaliation, the mayor said, funds from the pledged $10 million boost to the city’s Crisis Management System will go towards increasing coverage in the neighborhoods where the weekend shootings took place.
“We are going to use new strategies and approaches in policing, we are going to use new strategies and approaches at the community level, we are going to do whatever it takes to fight back gun violence,” the mayor said.
On June 7, Mayor de Blasio promised to cut the NYPD’s budget by $1 million after 10 days of protests against police brutality in the city and increasing demands for police reform. When asked by CBS reporter Marsha Kramer what role recent jump in gun violence would play in the pledged NYPD budget cuts, the mayor said it was “really important” to remember that “job one is to always keep people safe.”
The NYPD did not immediately respond to questions on exactly how many extra officers would be sent out to patrol.
