#NYC lawmakers eyeing NYPD dissolution as one answer to ‘defund’ protests

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New York CIty Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel.(left) NYPD officers patrol around a peaceful march in Union Square.
Erik Thomas; Taidgh Barron/NY Post

Top city lawmakers are looking at chipping away at the New York Police Department’s contact with civilians by cleaving off its school safety and parking enforcement divisions, moves that would amount to the biggest overhaul of Big Apple law enforcement in decades.

The floated restructuring comes as civil rights activists and far-left politicians demand City Hall “defund” the police in the wake of a series of confluent crises — the national outcry over the death George Floyd, mounting criticism of the NYPD’s aggressive policing of Floyd-related protests and Gotham’s already massive $9 billion coronavirus budget hole.

“There’s no way in the world as a city body as a Council, we can just walk away from this,” said Councilwoman Alicka Ampry-Samuels (D-Brooklyn), who chairs the public housing committee. “There’s no way we can go back to budget negotiations like we did the past.”

Ampry-Samuels told The Post that undoing former ex-Mayor Rudy Giuliani’s decision to merge parking enforcement and school security into the NYPD — putting those responsibilities back at the Transportation and Education departments, respectively — is one way that lawmakers can respond to the ‘defunding’ calls.

Some activists have demanded that as much as $1 billion be cut from the NYPD’s budget, calls the NYPD’s brass have roundly rejected.

“Traffic, school safety — a huge piece of the budget with our young people,” she said, adding, “I don’t think the NYPD should be in the position of doing youth programming at all.”

Another Brooklyn Democrat, Stephen Levin, echoed the sentiment and has filed to sponsor legislation that would move parking enforcement back to DOT.

Critics of the NYPD have complained for years the current setup results in the department failing to go after cops who abuse parking privileges, including placards.

“That is responsive to what people are asking for as part of the defund movement,” said Levin, who chairs the committee on homelessness, about separating those functions out of the department.

The overhaul rumblings are separate from Council demands that every city agency come up with plans to slash spending by 5 to 7 percent, which would amount to a $300 million to $420 million cut from the NYPD’s $6 billion budget.

Top Council budget writers have signaled the savings can come from delaying cadet classes, cutting back on the police department’s $736 million in overtime and reducing non-personnel expenses — all while keeping cops on the street.

“This is New York City, we do need police. We do,” Samuels said. “But how to police is the new conversation.”

Another council member said, “I think it’s easy to say this stuff but when it comes down to the safety of your district and the local police, it’s a whole different ballgame.”

De Blasio told reporters Wednesday that he is open to pulling parking enforcement out of the NYPD and that a task force, controversially headed by his wife, Chirlane McCray, would study the idea.

However, Hizzoner signaled opposition to putting the Education Department back in charge of school security.

“I know that the task force is looking at a whole range of issues, again, about what is better handled by civilians and what is handled best by the Police Department and how to do that work,” de Blasio said. “My honest feeling that the safety issues are not resolved in schools at this point and school safety is necessary in its current form to keep ensuring the safety of our kids and personnel.”

A day earlier, the NYPD’s highest-ranking black official, First Deputy Commissioner Ben Tucker, brushed off questions during a Council hearing about a $1 billion cut.

“No, we’re not,” Tucker said with a laugh when asked by committee chairman Donovan Richards (D-Queens) whether the department was on board with the 10-figure cut to its $6 billion budget.