Memorandum for the Acting Secretary of State: The Commissioner of Police of New York City has several times taken up with me the possibility of the Federal government defraying part of the cost of protecting, during this unusual session of the General Assembly of the United Nations, the principal figures visiting there.1 The actual situation is this, as given to me by the Commissioner:
The Commissioner has felt it necessary to mobilize all of the personnel and equipment available to the City. This means that for a period of weeks, he has had to go to a seven day week, with hours ranging from twelve to eighteen. He has been forced to refuse all applications for leave and to cancel others.
The only way that the Commissioner has of making up for the overtime put in by the entire Police Force is to give, after the closing of the Assembly, an equivalent time off to all involved. According to his statements this will leave the City stripped of proper police protection for a very considerable period. He reports that he could make up for the daily overtime, but this means, he feels, that it would be highly dangerous to the safety of the City if he should attempt to make up the time required by the two days additional duty per week which had been performed by the Force in this period.
He thinks that as a matter of equity, the Federal government should pay at least two-sevenths of the additional time put in by the Police Force during the period for this particular purpose. He states also that it would do no good to wait until the next session of the Congress because he will have to begin, immediately after the end of the Assembly, to provide furloughs in such quantity that the police duty will be inadequately performed. He hopes that some kind of contingency or emergency fund can be used.
While I personally doubt that there is any way of determining exactly what the proper share of the Federal government’s obligation might be in this situation, I do think that there is considerable merit in Commissioner Kennedy’s argument.
Would you please let me have your comments?2
