Sal Albanese’s says more cops are the answer to the city’s problems, and he’d hire them if you elect him mayor.
The former Bay Ridge councilman resident says he’ll get more boots on the ground for the city’s shrunken police department, adding 3,300 more cops and 500 new detectives.
Albanese — a Democrat who was a council member from 1982 to 1997 — claims a beefed-up police force is necessary to reduce chronic crime in poor areas.
“Too many neighborhoods―— from East Harlem to East New York —―still cite local crime as one of their top concerns,” said Albanese, who declared his candidacy for mayor earlier this month after working for 15 years as a financial consultant.
The city’s Police Department is at its smallest size since 1992, and crime was up in 2012. Albanese thinks more cops would reverse the uptick.
“Local precincts are stretched thin, leaving only a handful of officers to patrol on some tours.”
The Dyker Heights resident wouldn’t say how the city would come up with the $132,886,000 needed for the new recruits, whose salaries would start at $34,970 a year, but pointed out that an improving economy, smaller government, and more federal funding would help finance the police.
And if the police do their jobs, his investment in them will pay off.
“Safer cities are more vibrant cities, economically and civically,” he said.
Reach reporter Will Bredderman at wbredderman@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-4507. Follow him at twitter.com/WillBredderman.
