In understanding the challenge you face in how to focus your collective efforts, we would like to share suggestions raised by Safety Beyond Policing and encourage you to further review their counter recommendations carefully.

Adding more cops to a militarized department based in racist Broken Windows policing will only add more fuel to the fire. The NYPD is by far the largest police force in America. It also has one of the highest national police to citizen ratios. Increasing an already massive police force does not make us safer and only guarantees even more Broken Windows-based policing by cops operating more and more like counter-terrorism troops.

What does 'public safety' mean? According to a PROP study the NYPD already costs us $1 Million a day from low-level arrests. The (known) NYPD budget has grown to over $4.7 Billion for FY 2015. We need to talk about community safety in a nuanced way that acknowledges how law enforcement is actually seen by our communities.

We don’t need more cops. We want strong communities.

Communities of color are being systematically over-policed while also being displaced by rising rent and gentrification. We must repair the damage of mass criminalization and help people return to their communities instead of squandering resources. Resources that help our communities thrive, lift our social net and also lower core drivers of crime are key and we demand the City Council invest the $97 million annual dollars proposed for 1,000 new cops instead towards those solutions instead. - Safety Beyond Policing

We would additionally like to counter Commissioner Bratton’s request with our own:

10k fewer cops on the street

With fewer officers on the streets the department might have to reconsider its priorities. There would likely not be enough cops on the street to spend time targeting pregnant women or criminalizing homelessness. While the quality of life for tens of thousands of New Yorkers would improve, it is true that the city would lose the budgeted income which comes from targeting those who can least afford citations. That loss would be somewhat offset by the salaries no longer required, but there are a few other ways to make ends meet.

Instead of raising this money from our communities, already stretched beyond the breaking point, the City Council could:

impose a 95% tax on all capital gains earnings over $1 million USD.

That will more than cover whatever you would be squeezing out of us. What would you do with the surplus? Here are the broad strokes: child care, schools, food, homes for those who need them, medicines, a robust free transportation system, and social services guaranteed to improve the quality of life for all New Yorkers.