Dear Speaker Johnson and Council Members Dromm, Treyger, and Richards

Hon. Corey Johnson Hon. Daniel Dromm Hon. Mark Treyger Hon. Donovan Richards Speaker Chairman, Committee on Finance Chairman, Committee on Education Chairman, Committee on Public Safety New York City Council New York City Council New York City Council New York City Council 250 Broadway 250 Broadway 250 Broadway 250 Broadway New York, NY 10007 New York, NY 10007 New York, NY 10007 New York, NY 10007

Dear Speaker Johnson and Council Members Dromm, Treyger, and Richards:

On June 12, 2020, the New York City Council issued a press release announcing “an ambitious goal” of “$1 billion in cuts to New York City’s police spending in the Fiscal 2021 budget.”1 While the press release did not specifically identify how the proposed reduction would be achieved, it did assert that Council leadership had “identified savings that would cut over $1 billion dollars [sic], including…shifting responsibilities away from the NYPD.”2 Subsequent news reports and information obtained directly by Local 237 representatives from knowledgeable sources have indicated that one proposal included in such savings plan is the removal of school safety responsibilities from the NYPD and assignment of the same to the Department of Education. Earlier today, Council Members Treyger and Richards issued a separate press release explicitly calling for the Division of School Safety to be removed from the NYPD and transferred to the DOE.

Although Teamsters Local 237 represents more than 5,000 school safety agents; and although I have been engaged directly with many of you in the Council about school safety issues in recent years; and although I personally witnessed the transition of the school safety division from the then Board of Education to the NYPD in 1998 as the deputy director of Local 237’s peace officer division; there had been absolutely no consultation with or input sought from Local 237 about this extraordinarily significant policy change before these press releases were issued. With barely two weeks left before the Fiscal Year 2021 budget must be approved by the City, and no ability to have meaningful public debate and dialogue, the process by which this proposed change would be approved reeks of pandering and political opportunism. On behalf of the 24,000 members of Teamsters Local 237, including 5,036 members in our NYPD School Safety Division, I write to express my very strong opposition to this proposal.

The calls to remove school safety responsibilities from the NYPD is not a new one, but they have certainly been renewed in the wake of recent protests about police reform. Sharing a name with the man whose murder sparked this moment of national outrage, I understand that there must be a change to policing in this country and that we must better address the racial inequalities that persist. The renewed calls for removing school safety responsibilities from the NYPD, however, fail to recognize how the School Safety Division actually already better achieves the goals of many police reform advocates. The advocates generally tout diversity of the workforce, a community policing model, and “demilitarization”Sincerely, as keys to improving police forces. School safety agents already reflect those objectives: seventy percent of school safety agents are Black and Latina women; the vast majority live in the neighborhoods in which they work; and they do not carry firearms or chemical agents.Gregory Floyd President, Teamsters Local 237 The inconvenient truth is that there are New York City school children who seek to harm their classmates and school staff. And it is the enormous responsibility of our approximately

1 See, “Joint Statement from Speaker Corey Johnson, Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo, Democratic Conference Chair Robert Cornegy, Co-Chairs of the Black, Latino and Asian Caucus I. Daneek Miller and Adrienne Adams, Finance Committee Chair Daniel Dromm, Capital Budget Subcommittee Chair Vanessa L. Gibson, and Public Safety Committee Chair Donovan Richards on Proposed Cuts to the NYPD Budget,” June 12, 2020, https://council.nyc.gov/press/2020/06/12/1983/. 2 Id., emphasis added.

Dear Speaker Johnson and Council Members Dromm, Treyger, and Richards:

The calls to remove school safety responsibilities from the NYPD is not a new one, but they have certainly been renewed in the wake of recent protests about police reform. Sharing a name with the man whose murder sparked this moment of national outrage, I understand that there must be a change to policing in this country and that we must better address the racial inequalities that persist. The renewed calls for removing school safety responsibilities from the NYPD, however, fail to recognize how the School Safety Division actually already better achieves the goals of many police reform advocates. The advocates generally tout diversity of the workforce, a community policing model, and “demilitarization” as keys to improving police forces. School safety agents already reflect those objectives: seventy percent of school safety agents are Black and Latina women; the vast majority live in the neighborhoods in which they work; and they do not carry firearms or chemical agents.

The inconvenient truth is that there are New York City school children who seek to harm their classmates and school staff. And it is the enormous responsibility of our approximately

5,000 school safety agents to protect New York City’s 1.1 million school children and 135,000 school staff members from that harm. Each year, hundreds of dangerous weapons—firearms, tasers, B.B. guns, knives, boxcutters, and other types of weapons—are intercepted by school safety agents. That does not include the many more that would be brought to school by students, but for the deterrent effect of metal detectors and NYPD school safety agents. How can we expect our school children to learn and our educators to instruct, if we cannot ensure their safety?

Change for the sake of change is not an effective method of governance. I witnessed the disastrous results of the Board of Education being responsible for school safety prior to 1998, and I understand that taking away school safety responsibilities from the NYPD is not an advisable change.

In Solidarity,

Gregory Floyd President

Cc: Hon. Laurie Cumbo, Majority Leader Hon. Robert Cornegy, Democratic Conference Chair Hon. I. Daneek Miller, Co-Chair, Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus Hon. Adrienne Adams, Co-Chair, Black, Latino, and Asian Caucus Hon. Vanessa L. Gibson, Chair, Subcommittee on Capital Budget Hon. Steven Matteo, Minority Leader

Sincerely,

Gregory Floyd President, Teamsters Local 237