Officials from the newly-launched Office of Community Safety haven’t met yet with anyone from the NYPD about collaboration or shifting responsibilities to the newly-launched office, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday.
Council Speaker Julie Menin asked the commissioner during an executive budget hearing on public safety about coordination between the police department and OCS, which was soft-launched in March and scaled down from what Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised on the campaign trail.
“Those conversations have not yet commenced,” Tisch said, adding later that she expected them to occur in the future.
Mamdani signed an executive order for the new office on March 19 and announced a deputy mayor for public safety, Renita Francois.
“It is that commitment to a safe New York City that brings us together today as we make a groundbreaking announcement,” the mayor said at the official announcement. “One that fulfills the change that more than 1 million New Yorkers voted for. And one that will allow this city to approach public safety with the seriousness, innovation and commitment it deserves.”
On May 5, he appointed Dr. Ayesha Delany-Brumsey as the office’s commissioner, who reports to Deputy Mayor Francois.
The Office of Community Safety’s focus is on decreasing gun violence across the city “using evidence-based crime-reduction strategies that are proven to keep communities safe, to provide long-term solutions to New Yorkers who experience mental health issues and to respond appropriately in moments of crisis,” according to the executive order.
“The Office of Community Safety’s leadership looks forward to meeting with the Police Department to discuss ongoing efforts that advance the Mamdani administration’s whole-of-government approach to public safety and crisis response,” City Hall spokesperson Sam Raskin said in a statement. The group is expected to meet later this week, and a city official said that some OCS staff had met with some NYPD staff, but did not indicate what they discussed.
Monday’s hearing touched on other policing issues – including expected overtime during the convergence of events including the FIFA World Cup and Sail250.
The projected cost for just July 1 through July 7 is between $35 and $42 million, police officials said.
The overall cost for June and July’s event-related overtime – including both pay to officers and equipment – is $92 million.
The NYPD is reportedly projecting $955 million on overtime through this current fiscal year, which ends June 30, POLITICO reported last month.
By March, the department had already spent $758 million in overtime, the outlet reported.
Tisch also said hate crimes were down in the first quarter of the year, with NYPD data showing a 5.4% decrease compared to last year.
Antisemitic hate crimes – which accounted for 56% of the overall hate crimes – were down 8.4%, the commissioner said.
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