BUT THAT WOULD PROVIDE FEWER OPPORTUNITIES FOR GRAFT: Cities Should Take a Hard Look at Police Department Budgets:

Take New York City. In 1990, at the peak of the decades-long crime wave, New York City had 212,458 violent crimes, 932,416 property crimes, and 2,605 murders. At the time, it had a police force consisting of 26,756 uniformed and 9,483 nonuniformed personnel.

In 2018, the last year for which I could find statistics, New York City had 68,495 violent crimes, 281,507 property crimes, and 562 murders. In other words, crime is down dramatically.

Nevertheless, the New York City police force has since grown dramatically, consisting of approximately 36,000 officers and 19,000 civilian employees. Perhaps having more cops on the payroll has contributed to the lower crime rate, though crime rates have fallen nationwide. Even if so, the more than doubling of civilian employees is an especially stark statistic. With far fewer crimes to process, how could New York City possibly need twice as many civilian employees as in 1990?

UPDATE: Some or all of the increase may be the result of merging the transit and housing police into the NYPD. Either way, one bureaucrat for every two cops, with police coverage 24/7 and most of the bureaucracy working 9-5 is an astounding ratio.