Katurah Topps, Policy Counsel at the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) issued the following statement regarding New York City Police Department (NYPD) funding in the city’s budget for the next fiscal year:
“Along with over 170 organizations and countless New Yorkers, we called on New York City officials to commit to true public safety by cutting $1 billion from the NYPD’s expense budget and reinvesting those funds into Black and Brown communities. Early this morning, however, the New York City Council approved a budget that largely ignored this call.
“Instead, the city’s fiscal year 2021 budget shifts funding from the NYPD to other agencies, including moving school safety agents from the NYPD to the Department of Education, rather than heeding students’ concerns and cutting the program altogether. This decision, along with other missed opportunities for reinvesting NYPD funds in the manner called for by advocates, is greatly disappointing.
“LDF will continue to work toward creating a public safety system that provides Black and Brown communities with the social, health, and educational supports they deserve, instead of one that perpetuates an abusive and hyper-militarized police presence.”
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Founded in 1940, the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) is the nation’s first civil and human rights law organization. LDF has been completely separate from the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) since 1957—although LDF was originally founded by the NAACP and shares its commitment to equal rights. LDF’s Thurgood Marshall Institute is a multi-disciplinary and collaborative hub within LDF that launches targeted campaigns and undertakes innovative research to shape the civil rights narrative. In media attributions, please refer to us as the NAACP Legal Defense Fund or LDF.
