And now the state and city are in a money crisis and my dad keeps telling me about how when he was taking all of these tests they froze the civil service lists . That means they stopped hiring cops and firefighters . He said they even laid off cops when they froze the lists in the 70 's .

Based on the preceding passage, answer the following question Why did the city put a hiring freeze on cops and firefighters ?
They could n't afford to pay them .