New York Mayor Bill de Blasio intends to ask the federal government to cover some of the cost of the New York Police Department's ongoing protection detail for President-elect Donald Trump, he said Friday.



The NYPD has already put about an additional 50 officers on each shift during daytime hours to manage the flow of traffic in the immediate area of Trump Tower, de Blasio said. He said personnel will be added as needed. The number one imperative for the department is Trump's safety and security, he said, but expressed some concern about the overtime costs for NYPD officers on the president-elect's protection detail.

"This is a very substantial undertaking. It will take substantial resources, and we will begin the conversation with the federal government shortly on reimbursement for the NYPD for some of the costs that we are incurring," de Blasio told reporters. "We are particularly concerned about overtime costs, and we think it's a very valid situation to turn to the federal government for the maximum possible reimbursement for those costs."

He noted that during his meeting with Trump on Wednesday, the president-elect expressed his admiration and appreciation for the men and women of the NYPD who are helping to protect him.

"We owe that to the president-elect, his family, his team, and that is important for all New Yorkers so that will be the most important consideration, but we believe we can balance that with a number of measures to keep traffic — both pedestrian and vehicular traffic — moving as well as possible," he said.