NYPD Prepares for Budget Cuts

No city agency has escaped Mayor Bloomberg's mid-year budget cutting. WNYC's Bob Hennelly has a look at the impact on the NYPD.

REPORTER: The long-awaited boost in police pay gave department budget makers much less wiggle room. Consider that 93 percent of the NYPD's budget goes to salaries and benefits. The Mayor's cost cutting will leave the NYPD with fewer boots on the ground -- down to a head count just shy of 36,000 officers. That's 5,000 fewer than before September 11th.

And get ready for a multi-million dollar ticket writing blitz. The NYPD will hire 200 new traffic agents and 34 supervisors. The agents will be deployed to enforce Block the Box violations -- to nab drivers who clog intersections. The Mayor says the crack down will bring in an additional $60 million in revenue for fiscal 2010 -- all while reducing congestion.

For WNYC I'm Bob Hennelly.