For the first time since Mayor Bill de Blasio took office, he gathered all of the city’s district attorneys for a meeting. NY1′s Dean Meminger filed the following report.
A long-awaited gathering of the minds inside City Hall between Mayor Bill de Blasio and the city’s district attorneys took place Thursday.
“We had an extremely positive meeting, which began with the mayor outlining his plans for collaboration between his administration, the police department and our offices,” said Bronx District Attorney Robert Johnson.
Although the mayor has been in office more than 10 months, this is the first official sit-down he has had with the five DA’s as a group. They’re the ones responsible for determining if arrests made by New York City police officers will be prosecuted or not.
“First and foremost, the person with whom we would deal most frequently with would be the police commissioner on criminal justice issues,” said Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. “Today’s an opportunity for all five of us to come together and talk about issues that are citywide issues.”
Of course, one of those issues is the controversy surrounding the city’s new policy of giving people tickets instead of arresting them for small quantities of marijuana. The shift would mean people from across the city would have to travel to a Manhattan court for violations.
“They’re going to see how this actually works out,” said Staten Island District Attorney Daniel Donovan. “There was even talk about maybe having people be able to pay their summons through the mail. So they’re trying to work out some things now.”
Beyond crime, there’s also a money issue. The district attorneys said they need increased funding from City Hall. They have a total budget of about $ 300 million for 2015, and a little more than 90 percent of their budgets comes from the city.
“All of us want to pay our staffs more money, and they’re not unionized, and they’re not adequately compensated for the work they do,” Donovan said. “On the other hand, the mayor’s first budget, he gave us all money to decide on what projects we thought what priorities of ours.”
Also attending the meeting were the police commissioner, the city’s top lawyer and the mayor’s criminal justice coordinator.
“It’s a team that we’re familiar with, a team that’s experienced, a team that we felt we can work with,” Johnson said.
The DAs said the plan is to hopefully keep the lines of communication open with City Hall and the police department.
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