Police Force Headcount Way Down in Six Manhattan Pcts, Says Council Member Bottcher

City Council Member Erik Bottcher has requested an elevation in police force “headcount” for his West Side district, which is centered around Chelsea and Hell’s Kitchen. It also includes parts of Lower Mnahattan and the Upper West Side.

After the police force in his district has seen declining staffing levels (ostensibly due to turnover and retirements), Bottcher argues that a headcount boost “will allow for more proactive, visible policing in our neighborhoods.”

Bottcher made the request to Mayor Eric Adams & NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch in an April 17 letter. He specifically compared the current levels of employed officers in his district to 2019.

”As we continue working to build a safer New York City, I’m writing to request a restoration of NYPD officer headcount across the six precincts serving Council District 3—and to explore further measures that would ensure consistent, community-based coverage moving forward,” he wrote. “In its Response to the Fiscal 2026 Preliminary Budget, the City Council has called on the administration to prioritize hiring for vacant NYPD uniform positions.”

In his recently unveiled 2026 budget, Mayor Eric Adams is calling for NYPD staffing levels to rise to 35,000 uniformed officers citywide, which would equal the pre-COVID size of the workforce. NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch also unveiled more relaxed education standards for entering the Police Academy as a way to boost recruitment.

Botcher said that hired officers would ideally be stationed “in high-traffic commercial areas, near transit hubs, and in residential corridors experiencing persistent quality-of-life challenges.”

The precincts that are contained within Bottcher’s district include the 1st, the 6th, the 10th, the 13th, the 14th (Midtown South), and the 18th (Midtown North). According to statistics that Bottcher included in his letter, the 1st Precinct now has 133 officers compared to 168 in 2019, the 6th has 96 compared to 148, the 10th has 95 compared to 142, the 13th has 124 compared to 179, the 14th has 232 compared to 316, and the 18th has 147 compared to 251.

These headcount reductions, Bottcher wrote, have made it “more difficult” for these precincts to: respond to “lower-priority” 911 calls, have officers “positively engage with the community while ‘walking the beat,’” minimize burnout and overtime, and provide an overall level of “neighborhood-focused service” expected by his constituents.

Bottcher concluded the letter by writing that “our communities are not asking for more aggressive policing—they’re asking for steady, reliable coverage that deters crime, responds quickly to calls, and builds positive relationships with residents and businesses alike.” He says that these relationships should be based on “impact, equity, and trust.”

Crime incident statistics for these six precincts, measured on a year-to-date basis, portray a mixed picture about crime trends. Compared with this time last year, the 1st Precinct has seen an overall boost of 4.6 percent in reported incidents across major crime categories; more grand theft auto incidents, robberies, and rapes have occurred.

The 6th Precinct, meanwhile, has seen a dip of 18.27 percent across major crime categories on a year-to-date basis. Reported rapes are an outlier for this precinct, with 5 in 2025, compared to 1 at this time in 2024.

The 10th Precinct has seen a 5.82 dip in overall crime categories on a year-to-date basis. Rape incidents are similarly substantially elevated, with 9 incidents at this point in 2025, compared to 4 last year.

The 13th Precinct has seen a significant year-to-date increase, of 21.36 percent, across major crime categories. Except for murder–there have been zero in the precinct’s boundaries this year–all other major categories have seen boosts: rape, robbery, felony assault, burglary, grand larceny, and grand theft auto.

The Midtown South precinct has seen a year-to-date dip of 10.93 percent across all major categories. The Midtown North precinct has seen a year-to-date increase of 7.68 percent across major crime categories, however. Reported rapes saw the largest increase, with 13 rapes in 2025 compared to 3 last at this time last year.

The increase in reported rapes may be partially due changes in law and NYPD practices, which are intended to help survivors come forward. Last September, the New York State Legislature passed a law informally called the “Rape Is Rape” act, which consolidated previously separate categories of rape into one unified definition.

NYPD Commissioner Tisch has also touted a program that helps survivors come forward when they receive social services at Family Justice Law Centers, which are linked to the Mayor’s Office to End Domestic & Gender-Based Violence.