Strengthening Public Safety in New York City: A Blueprint for Transforming Policing, Enhancing Safety, and Investing in Communities

By Scott M. Stringer

This report, by New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer, is rooted in the view that we have conceived of public safety too narrowly for too long at an enormous cost to communities of color entangled in the criminal legal system, their families and neighbors, and the city as a whole. To change this paradigm and address the near-term spike in crime, we must pursue new and better ways to co-produce public safety in partnership with communities, ensure accountability, address chronic needs, and make the city safer for all. Identifying the interventions that will enable us to confront these challenges requires that we take a public health-first approach. Indeed, safety must be viewed both as freedom from violence and the ability to access all of what is necessary to thrive in our city – from stable housing and quality education, to health care and living-wage jobs. In June of 2020, Comptroller Stringer detailed ways to immediately achieve recurring savings from the NYPD to invest in communities. Some but not all of these proposals were adopted by the City Council and Mayor de Blasio and reflected in the Fiscal Year 2021 Adopted Budget. With this report, developed in the months since the passage of the City budget, the Comptroller’s Office seeks to build on that baseline proposal from June, presenting a more comprehensive plan that moves additional responsibilities away from the NYPD and identifies specific areas for community reinvestment.

New York: Office of the New York City Comptroller, Bureau of Policy and Research , 2021. 50p.