Both NYPD Commissioner William Bratton and Mayor Bill de Blasio pushed back against a City Council proposal to hire 1,000 more police officers, reported the Daily News.
De Blasio said he believes current resources can get the job done, while Bratton contended any new spending at the NYPD should be used to give cops raises instead.
"To be quite frank with you, the issue of pay raises for my personnel," Bratton said at a City Hall news conference, "I'm more supportive of that at the moment than I am additional officers," "We need a lot of money to address that issue."
City Council Speaker Melissa Mark-Viverito argued the NYPD has been reduced by thousands of officers over the years, and that the mayor's "Vision Zero" crackdown on dangerous driving will require significant manpower.
"We can't continue to overstretch our police force," she said.
But de Blasio retorted by stating the city already was in a structural deficit: "With the force we have right now, we're doing a great job," he said.