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For example, as a condition of funding in the Fiscal Year 2015 and Fiscal Year 2016 budgets, the Council requires the City’s Department of Correction to provide information about violent incidences in their facilities to receive funding for things like salaries.

In Fiscal Years 2015, 2016, and 2017, the Speaker and the Council successfully negotiated with the Mayoral Administration for a record number of 30 funding conditions so the public can better understand spending by agencies. With this data, the Council achieves the transparency needed to perform its oversight of city spending and also make informed policy decisions.


Examples of Conditions for Agency Funding

The Council has sought transparency through agency funding conditions with the Department of Correction and the New York City Police Department.

Because of concerns about violence in correctional facilities, especially as it relates to younger inmates, for the past two years the Council required the Department of Correction to submit quarterly numbers on violence in their facilities, broken down by age. In addition, to determine whether the Department of Correction’s uniformed staff reflects the dynamics of the City as a whole, the Council has negotiated for demographic info for the first time in Fiscal Year 2017.

Department of Correction must report:

  • New in Fiscal Year 2017: Demographics of uniformed personnel, dis-aggregated by rank, gender, and race
  • Fiscal Year 2015 and 2016: Use of force, Inmate-on-inmate violence, and Inmate-Staff violence

Similarly, as a result of apprehension that the police force does not reflect the demographic makeup of the City as a whole, in Fiscal Year 2016 the Council required the NYPD report gender and race for the 1,300 new police officer hires. In Fiscal 2017, this term and condition will be expanded to include the entire Department.

New York Police Department must report:

  • New in Fiscal Year 2017: Gender, race, and rank for all uniformed officers.
  • Fiscal Year 2016: Gender, ethnicity, and country of origin of new hires

What the data shows

New York Department of Correction

Violence at the City’s correctional facilities greatly increased from July 2014 and peaked in September 2015, with 3,032 violent incidences in a 3 month period (nearly 33 violent incidences per day). The level of violence has decreased since that time, but still remains higher than when the Council first began requesting this information with terms and conditions.

New York City Department of Correction Violent Incidents 2014-2016

Inmate-staff violent incidences increased during this time frame and remained a greater share of violent incidences.

Inmate-staff violence abruptly increased over the data period, peaking in July to Sept 2015, and then decreasing, though not quite reaching the previous low.

Inmate-on-inmate violence followed a similar pattern, but did not mirror inmate-staff violence. Inmate-on-inmate violence increased slightly in the past quarter.

New York City Department of Correction Inmate and Staff Violence 2014-2016
New York City Department of Correction Inmate and Staff Violence July 2015-March 2016

New York Police Department

Demographic data obtained through the terms and conditions in the budget process show that new hires in Fiscal Year 2016 did not reflect the overall makeup of residents in New York City.

Less than a quarter of new hires were women, compared to the 52% of women that comprise our City.

New York City Police Department New Hire: Gender 2016

Similarly, ethnicity the race of new hires by the NYPD do not reflect the general ethnic makeup of New York City. While 33% of New Yorkers identify as white, 46% of new hires in FY16 by the Police Department were white. 23% of New Yorkers identify as black, while only 17% of new NYPD hires identified as black.

New York City Police Department New Hire: Race 2015
Country of Origin for NYPD New Hires


Results

As are result of these agency funding conditions, the Council can provide accountability and increased understanding of agency operations. Increased information leads to improved legislation and service.

The Council negotiated with the Mayoral administration for increased information regarding violence within Department of Correction facilities during Fiscal Year 2015 and Fiscal Year 2016. In 2016, the Council successfully passed a law to ensure the public receives this same information every year regardless of budget negotiations.

Additionally, the HOPE Survey agency funding condition with the Department of Homeless Services means that the City has better data on the number of homeless youth with the ability to target services more effectively and efficiently


Download the Data

Agency Funding Conditions (Terms and Conditions)

Department of Corrections Jail Violence Reports

New York Police Department New Hires and School Crossing Guards