The city is dumping millions of dollars into woke non-profits that employ an army of ex-cons with minimal NYPD involvement and oversight — and the cost of the unproven experiment has grown exponentially in the past decade, critics said.
The city shells out nearly $100 million annually to its Crisis Management System, which includes more than 20 Community Violence Intervention groups, according to a city comptroller’s report last year. The city budget for the program was only $4.8 million when it was created in 2012.
The “violence interrupters” are euphemistically described in the report as “trusted community members with first-hand experience in violence prevention to mediate conflicts, prevent retaliation and address the root causes of violence.”
But the workers are not law enforcement. They are often ex-cons with violent histories who are sent out to mediate tensions between gangs they may have once been a part of.
“We’re pouring millions of dollars into social experiments instead of giving it to the actual police,” said Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens).
“Unvetted ‘violence interrupters’ are not the answer to crime in New York City,” she said. “The answer is a larger, well-trained, uniformed police force. The money being spent on these programs should be spent on another academy class so we can get more real crime fighters on the streets, not on paying glorified vigilantes to ‘interrupt’ things.”
Since 2010, a Brooklyn group called Man Up! has received over $50 million in city contracts. Since 2020, it has pocketed another $6.5 million in Council pork, including a whopping $2,215,000 for this fiscal year.
On its website, the Brownsville-based group says its mission is to serve “urban neighborhoods as a Multi-Cultural, social service Agency for Neighborhood improvement and for the complete Understanding of emergency Preparedness!”
Since 2012, a silimar group called Street Corner has received more than $17 million in city contract work and $105,000 in City Council discretionary funds and the non-profit Life Camp has received over $20 million in city contracts and another $992,516 in City Council discretionary funds.
Supporters claim that the groups help reduce shootings in the Big Apple through conflict resolution and working with teens. Shootings are down citywide, according to NYPD data.
But one longtime police officer said they can’t hold a candle to New York’s Finest.
“These public safety groups can help but they can’t replace the badge,” a law enforcement source said. “They may prevent conflict but when lives are on the line people still count on the police. You cannot substitute the men and women who will stand between chaos and the public.”
Lefty Mayor Mamdani campaigned on expanding the city’s Crisis Management System even further through his Office of Community Safety, which was established in March with a $260 million budget.
“And so what I would do is, is support a Cure Violence approach. The CMS system, we’ve talked about increasing funding by 275% as one part of the way in which we deliver public safety,” Mamdani told NY 1’s Errol Louis in 2025.
