City Councilmembers David Greenfield and Chaim Deutsch both want more security in nonpublic schools, but they have competing bills on how to get there.
Deutsch’s bill, which was introduced in May, is a carryover from a similar bill that Queens Councilmember Peter Vallone and Greenfield introduced in 2010. Under the measure nonpublic school authorities can request the NYPD to provide the same services they give to public schools including school safety officers, but it’s up to the discretion of the police commissioner to allocate them.
Greenfield’s bill would mandate the NYPD to provide school safety officers. As the bill heads into committee, 45 of the 51 members of the council have signed on as co-sponsors.
“The importance of this bill is obvious: schools have sadly become targets for violence and all too often we see tragedies at schools in the United States and across the world. All students deserve safe and protected learning environments. New York City already provides these security measures to public schools we would simply expand it to make sure that non-public schools are included,” said Greenfield.
Greenfield said the extra school cops can be mandated if the city pays the cost, which he estimated at between $10-20 million annually. This could be a tough sell considering the NYPD and others have been unsuccessfully lobbying for an additional 200 more police.
Koo spokesperson Jonathan Chung said the Koo-Deutsch bill deserves to be aired out because legislatively the city can’t tell the NYPD how to spend their resources and that it’s up to the commissioner. The only way it can be done is if the council provides the allocation to pay for it.
City Councilmember Carlos Menchaca, whose district is between Deutsch and Greenfield’s district, said he is looking at both pieces of legislation.
“There are several pieces of legislation that I’m reviewing right now and I’m definitely in support of the concept,” he said.
Menchaca also took Yeshiva World to task for saying he was the only councilman with religious Jewish constituents who did not support the bill, implying he didn’t support the issue.
“The news was false and I only hope to come out with my colleague (Greenfield) for the next step on the issue,” he said, adding the committees need to resolve all the legislative questions and make a bill that’s going to be all-encompassing.
“It’s about the process and I’m going to respect that process. I’m not against this bill and I’m going to support the bill that comes out,” he said.
Deutsch agreed with Menchaca. “It’s important for all school children to be protected and have proper security. I signed on to his (Greenfield) bill, but at end of the day we will have to come up with one bill that works with every one,” Deutsch said.
