City Needs To Investigate Possible NYPD Work Slowdown, Pols Say

NEW YORK, NY — Two New York City officials are calling for an investigation into whether the NYPD has purposefully slowed down in recent months to protest police reforms.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Bronx Council Member Ritchie Torres sent a letter late last week asking the Department of Investigation to look into whether a work stoppage at the department is a factor in an ongoing surge in violent crime across the city.

"There is a growing perception among members of the public, as well as elected officials, that rising violence in the city can be attributed to a work slowdown by New York City Police Department (NYPD) officers in an attempt to protest local and State police reforms that have been passed in the wake of mass demonstrations surrounding the murder of George Floyd," the lawmakers wrote on Friday.

The letter comes as the city grapples with an ongoing surge in shootings, which have nearly doubled citywide this year compared to 2019.

In Brooklyn, the number of shootings have more than tripled, with 94 incidents across the borough so far this year compared to just 29 during the same time last year, NYPD statistics show. The Bronx has seen a 133 percent increase in shooting incidents.

But amid the surge in gun violence, the NYPD are taking longer to respond to crimes, according to a NY1 report Adams and Torres point to in the letter.

The average response time jumped from eight minutes and 29 seconds last summer to nine minutes and 41 seconds this year, the report found.

Reports have also pointed to a slowdown in the number of arrests the NYPD has made this year. Gun arrests were down 8.1 percent in 2020 compared to 2019, according to NYPD statistics from earlier this month.

Adams said he and Torres, who chairs the City Council Committee on Oversight and Investigation, have also heard from a number of "alarmed officers still on the force" about the possible slowdown.

"I urge the NYPD to cooperate fully so we can restore public trust and continue the vital work of keeping our city safe," he said Monday.

NYPD's top officers have denied the slowdown and blamed budget cuts to the department for the slowed response times.

Adams and Torres say the City Council plans to hold a hearing to ask about the DOI's findings soon. They say the DOI should conduct the investigation independently of the mayor and all mayoral agencies, including the NYPD's Law Department.

"The independence of DOI has never been as sacrosanct as it is in our present crisis," they wrote.