Chirlane McCray: NYC Without Police Would Be ‘Nirvana,’ ‘Utopia’

Chirlane McCray, the wife of New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D), said in a Tuesday interview that abolishing the NYPD would be “nirvana” and “a utopia” as her husband vows to cut the police force’s budget.

“That would be like a nirvana, a utopia that we are nowhere close to getting to,” McCray said in an interview with TIME magazine.

On Sunday, De Blasio announced that his administration would “be moving funding from the NYPD to youth initiatives and social services” as part of the city’s forthcoming budget request. The decision, lobbied heavily by Black Lives Matter and local progressive Democrats, comes as protesters, rioters, looters, and arsonists have damaged businesses and attacked NYPD officers in recent weeks.

“The details will be worked out in the budget process in the weeks ahead,” he said. “But I want people to understand that we are committed to shifting resources to ensure that the focus is on our young people.”

De Blasio also pledged to strip the city’s police force of their jurisdiction over street vendor enforcement.

“The vendor and administrative enforcement will be moved out of the NYPD, so that code violations will not require an officer whose presence could escalate an encounter,” said McCray.

De Blasio’s announcement also comes as New York City has seen a spike in crime.

Over the last month, for example, murder has jumped more than 94 percent compared to the same time last year. Burglaries — now that suspects can be freed with0ut paying bail — have increased almost 34 percent in the last month compared to 2019,” Breitbart News reported. “In the last week, grand larceny auto has jumped nearly 90 percent, and over the last month, there have been nearly 70 percent more cases of grand larceny auto this year than there were at the same time last year.”

This week, New York police union boss Mike O’Meara delivered an impassioned defense of the NYPD, imploring lawmakers to stop treating officers akin to “animals and thugs.”

“Our legislators are failing us. Our press is vilifying us. Stop treating us like animals and thugs and start treating us with some respect. That’s what we’re here today to say. We’ve been vilified. It’s disgusting … trying to make us embarrassed of our profession,” O’Meara said in a press conference.