There has been an increase of at least 383 weapons and dangerous instruments seized in city schools from July 1 to Jan. 1, a 15.3 percent increase from the previous year, according to the NYPD.
Mona Davids heads the New York City School Safety Coalition, which is made up of parents who are concerned about school safety. She met with Mayor Eric Adams last week.
According to numbers from the NYPD, there has been a decline in agents each of the past four years. There were 5,153 in 2020 – now, there’s 4,217.
“You have schools – high schools that used to have 14 safety agents and now only have seven or eight,” said Davids. “All of this is endangering the safety of our children.”
When posed with the question on the current state of school safety agents, Mayor Adams agreed that more can be done.
“I don’t believe we have a strong recruitment campaign,” said Adams. “Many people are not aware of the jobs that are available.”
The NYPD says it’s working to fill safety agent vacancies after hiring 563 agents last year. They plan to have a class of 250 new agents this April.