#Chirlane McCray says NYPD-free New York City would be ‘nirvana’

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NYC’s first lady Chirlane McCray
James Messerschmidt

New York City First Lady Chirlane McCray – whom Mayor Bill de Blasio has credited for his executive decision to jump on the “defund the police” bandwagon – said no cops patrolling the streets would be a “nirvana,” according to a report.

“That would be like a nirvana, a utopia that we are nowhere close to getting to,” McCray told Time magazine on Tuesday.

On Sunday, Hizzoner pledged to shift an unspecified amount of the NYPD’s $6 billion budget to “youth initiatives and social services,” just two days after rejecting calls from activists and their City Council allies to slash funding for the city’s 36,000 cops.

His about-face came amid widespread speculation that McCray plans to enter next year’s race for Brooklyn borough president.

McCray’s comments during a TIME100 Talks discussion came days after Minneapolis lawmakers pledged to dismantle the city’s beleaguered police force in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death while in custody.

When asked whether the Big Apple could also disband its police department, McCray laughed.

“They’re a small city,” she said of Minneapolis. “They can do things that would not be possible in a large city like New York.”

De Blasio agreed that such a dramatic move would be unrealistic in a city of about 8.6 million residents.

“Could the human race evolve to a point where no guardians, no structures are needed? I guess in theory, but I don’t see that in the future we’re going to live the next few generations,” the mayor said.

He added: “You’re going to have police in New York City because it is needed for safety, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change policing.”

The couple said the solution isn’t necessarily to put fewer cops on the streets but to improve their ties to the communities.

“It’s good-policing. It’s not no-policing,” McCray said. “It’s having a different kind of culture than what we have now that is not so punitive and harsh and abusive.”

McCray also mentioned the recent arrest of their daughter, Chiara, 25, during a Manhattan protest after she allegedly blocked traffic on Broadway and refused to move.

“I didn’t know that she was out there,” McCray said, adding that she only found out after her daughter was released from jail.