Art exhibit shows the daily cost of police in New York City

New York City spends $29 million a day on policing, and a pop-up art exhibit helps visualize the cost. 

The Museum of Broken Windows’ “29 Million Dreams” interactive exhibit — named after the amount of money the city spends each day on law enforcement — asks New Yorkers to contemplate how those funds could better serve citizens.

The exhibit reveals the message of investing in things like affordable housing, education, mental health services, parks and other community-led initiatives that many nonprofit and community organizations have stressed over the past few years.

“Twenty-nine million dollars is a big number, the numbers are hard to understand. We think the art can reach people and explain the numbers in a different way,” Johanna Miller, the director of the Education Policy Center at the New York City Liberties Union (NYCLU), which funds the museum, said. The pop-up’s final day is May 6. 

The Museum of Broken Windows’ “29 Million Dreams” interactive exhibit — named after the amount of money the city spends each day on law enforcement — asks New Yorkers to contemplate how those funds could better serve citizens. (Photo courtesy of NYCLU)

Broken windows policing is the idea that if law enforcement zeroes in on smaller crimes in an area, then it’ll discourage people from committing more heinous acts. The theory states that the more neglected the area, the more likely people are to commit small crimes.

The first floor of the exhibit focuses on the police budget while the second floor is more about the community and how some of the more disenfranchised neighborhoods in New York City could look with more targeted investment. 

“On the second floor of the exhibit, there’s almost like a visceral tonal change of energy. There’s tons of open light, greenery, plants and the artwork on the second floor really shows the beauty of the people and communities,” Daveen Trentman, one of the curators of the exhibit said.

The Museum of Broken Windows’ “29 Million Dreams” interactive exhibit. (Photo courtesy of NYCLU)

The museum has a graph that shows the city budget and how much goes towards the police, compared to other city agencies. There are stickers on the police budget that visitors can use to place on another city agency that they feel needs more funding.

 “Overwhelmingly, there are so many stickers towards investing in youth and community development,” Trentman said. “Parks, libraries and violence prevention programs. This exhibit is really participatory.” 

The Museum of Broken Windows’ “29 Million Dreams” interactive exhibit. (Photo courtesy of NYCLU)

Some of the other stand-out art pieces include a painting of George Floyd and his daughter, which was commissioned specifically for this exhibit. There are also portraits of mothers and family members of people who have been killed by the NYPD.

The New York City Police Department (NYPD) has the largest budget in the country, though it’s the sixth largest per capita.  

“We are concerned that the city overspends money on the police at the expense of things that make our communities vibrant, healthy and safe,” Miller said. “It’s the citizens that are going to pay the price for that.”

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