They’ve gone too far left — even for NYPD budget-slasher Bill de Blasio.

The former New York City mayor said Friday he doesn’t blame moderate Democrats for ditching the left-leaning Progressive Caucus that dominates in the City Council, which wants to defund the NYPD, arguing New Yorkers need “to know they’re going to be safe.”

“There’s something understandably confusing to some Council members about that language because I absolutely believe there are some things that could be done by civilians better than police, like dealing with mental health crises in many cases, and that’s what we started to do. We need to do more,” de Blasio told WNYC radio’s Brian Lehrer.

“But I also think the public needs to know they’re going to be safe and there is the right way to invest in police and the right way to invest in community services. And it’s not like an either or — So I think, [that] kind of language that is that reductionist, I understand why some members are uncomfortable with it, honestly.”

The former mayor, himself, infamously signed off on slashing the NYPD budget by $1 billion in 2020.

The Post exclusively reported last week that far-left Democrats in caucus leadership posts were pressuring pols to sign a pledge that would “reduce the size and the scope of the NYPD and the Department of Correction.”

But several Democrats have since left the caucus, which stood at 35 members strong just last Friday — a group that includes members ranging from Democratic Socialists of America-backed Councilmember Tiffany Cabán (D-Queens) to Speaker Adrienne Adams (D-Queens).

De Blasio faced enormous pressure to slash the NYPD’s size by cutting at least $1 billion from its then-$6 billion in annual spending as the George Floyd protests — some of which spun into riots — raged amid the budget talks, demands the protestors made under the banner of ‘defunding’ the police.

“I do not believe it’s a good idea to reduce the budget of the agency that’s here to keep us safe,” he said in June 2020.

He eventually struck a deal with then-Council Speaker Corey Johnson that shrunk the Police Department’s budget by $1 billion.

They also cut the amount of money budgeted for overtime, even though the Police Department is rarely constrained by overtime limits. Those transfers were never enacted and the Police Department was again allowed to exceed its overtime levels in the following years.

However, de Blasio took heat again the following year when he refused to spend federal stimulus dollars granted in 2021 to hire new officers, despite a surge in shootings.