The city is throwing away millions of dollars to upstart nonprofits that run an army of bad guys with little NYPD involvement and oversight — and the cost of unwarranted inspections has skyrocketed over the past decade, critics say.
The city spends about $100 million annually on its Crisis Management System, which includes more than 20 Community Violence Intervention teams, according to a city manager’s report last year. The city’s budget for the program was only $4.8 million when it was established in 2012.
“Violence disruptors” are ominously defined in the report as “trusted members of the community who have first-hand experience in preventing violence to resolve conflicts, prevent retaliation and address the root causes of violence.”
But workers are not law enforcement. They are usually villains with violent histories who are sent to mediate differences between gangs they may have once belonged to.
“We’re pouring millions of dollars into public inspections instead of real police,” said Councilwoman Joann Ariola (R-Queens).
“Unchecked ‘violent disruptors’ are not the answer to crime in New York City,” he said. “The answer is a larger, better-trained, uniformed police force.” The money spent on these programs should be spent in another school classroom to get real crime fighters on the streets, not on paying respectable vigilantes to ‘disrupt’ things.”
Since 2010, the Brooklyn group called Man Up! received more than $50 million in city contracts. Starting in 2020, it added another $6.5 million to the Council’s pork, including a whopping $2,215,000 this fiscal year.
On its website, the Brownsville-based group says its mission is to serve “urban areas as a Multicultural Society, a Community Development Community and a comprehensive 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 nonprofit Life Camp has received more than $20 million in city contracts and another $992,516 in City Council discretionary funds.
Supporters say the groups help reduce shootings in the Big Apple by resolving conflicts and working with youth. Shootings are down across the city, according to NYPD data.
But one longtime cop said he can’t hold a candle to New York’s Finest.
“These public safety groups can help but they can’t cover the badge,” said a police source. “They may prevent conflict but when lives are on the way, people still rely on the police. You cannot replace the men and women who will stand between chaos and society.”
Left-wing Mayor Mamdani campaigned to expand the city’s disaster management program through his Office of Public Safety, which was established in March with a $260 million budget.
“So what I can do is support the Cure Violence approach. The CMS program, we talked about increasing funding by 275% as part of how we deliver public safety,” Mamdani told NY 1’s Errol Louis in 2025.
