As the candidates for mayor debate public safety and police funding, a new report from a former NYPD official shows that adding more cops has not always translated to lower crime rates throughout the city’s history.

The report, published Friday by policy group Vital City, found that the relationship between the NYPD’s headcount and crime rates has never been linear. The numbers of felonies and uniformed officers dropped alongside each other over the past 24 years, even as the city’s population grew, according to data from the report.

Policymakers should focus on how police resources are used, rather than solely the number of officers, argued the report’s author, John Hall, a former police executive who developed policy and analytics for the NYPD.

“Headline promises to substantially incr

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