Malliotakis gets $2.9M for NYPD as Guardian Angels step up presence

May 3, 2022 Jaime DeJesus

U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis outside the 86th Street R station.

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U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis secured $2.9 million for the NYPD in the federal government’s 2022 operational budget.

The money comes from the Dept. of Justice’s Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant. Byrne, an NYPD officer, was murdered in 1988 while protecting a witness in a drug case.

The NYPD will use $2,000,000 for forensic equipment, $350,000 for critical response command K-9 training and equipment and $550,000 for personal protective equipment.

“With skyrocketing crime plaguing our streets and subways, the time is now for elected officials to support our men and women in blue, not continue to tie their hands and strip them of critical resources,” Malliotakis said.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell said the money is badly needed.

“Keeping New Yorkers and visitors to our great city safe requires well-trained and well-equipped police officers,” Sewell said. “It supports personnel, training and necessary equipment for police departments nationwide, and remains integral to the NYPD’s mission of relentlessly fighting crime and terrorism.”

U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis with Guardian Angel founder Curtis Sliwa, Alec Brook-Krasny, Karim Elsammak, Brian Fox, Dmitry Kugel and others outside 86th Street station to discuss crime Photo courtesy of Brian Fox Facebook

On April 25, Malliotakis joined Guardian Angels founder Curtis Sliwa, Republican State Senate candidate Karim Elsammak, Assembly candidates Alec Brook-Krasny and Dmitriy Kugel, City Council candidate Brian Fox and others outside the 86th Street R train station to discuss the rise in crime.

“Not only do we need more officers, we need them to be allowed to do their jobs,” she said. “My colleagues and I recently called for 6,000 more cops to be hired and put on our streets. It’s not enough to just put cops on the subway as the mayor intends to do. This is about giving them the resources and tools to do their job.”

Malliotakis said bail reform is a main reason for the current situation.

“The crime increases that we’ve seen of late are outpacing the percentage increases throughout the city of New York in multiple categories,” she said. “It is spreading out to even the safest communities of New York City and we are seeing people injured and killed as a result as these bad policies.”

Sliwa and the Guardian Angels stepped up patrols in Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights on April 27.

“The key is getting more boots on the ground,” Sliwa said. “We are prioritizing this area to meet with merchants, go door to door, meet the residents, ride the subways.”