Whether or not to hire more police officers has been one of the more contentious policy arguments among New York City’s mayoral hopefuls — but a new report by a former NYPD executive shows that more cops don’t necessarily equal better public safety.

The report, published Thursday by the group Vital City, shows crime declined consistently across multiple years where the number of uniformed officers also waned.

“ It's been a campaign issue — what the police headcount is and what it could be. And it seems to serve as some sort of proxy for what one thinks of the police,” said John Hall, a former NYPD official who wrote the report.

Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent, has hinged his campaign on the idea that crime in the city is out of control, despite significant d

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