"In order for NYPD to continue to keep New Yorkers safe while also implementing new reforms and initiatives we need to increase the overall headcount of the department," Mark-Viverito said in a statement on Sunday evening, as quoted by The New York Observer newspaper.
According to Mark-Viverito, the new plan is fiscally responsible and will ensure public safety and good relations with the community.
This is not the first time the council has urged the mayor to increase the number of police officers. Last April, Mark-Viverito proposed hiring 1,000 extra officers. De Blasio at the time stated that the current number of the New York Police employees was sufficient, yet shifted 200 people from desk jobs to the street and to public housing, according to the local media.
New York has seen sweeping protests against police brutality and racial profiling last year after a white police officer choked to death an unarmed black man using an illegal restraining hold. The officer was not indicted for the killing.
