Mamdani’s New Cop Crackdown Will See Exodus From NYPD, Police Unions Warn

A review of police powers announced by Mayor Zohran Mamdani will drive cops out of the city and leave it less safe, according to police unions.The mayor unveiled the comprehensive review of the NYPD’s use-of-force policies and practices on Monday. Responding to the inspection, which calls for stricter monitoring of officers, police advocates said it would crush morale and discourage recruitment.It comes on the heels of some of the lowest crime statistics the city has ever seen for August and September — including citywide declines in gun violence. It also arrives less than a week after leftist groups twice protested the mayor for falling short. Instead of meeting their calls to restructure the agency, Monday’s announcement focuses on data and disciplinary reporting related to police shootings and misconduct. It includes a $2.6 million funding increase for the police department’s independent oversight body, the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD. “New Yorkers should be worried,” Detectives’ Endowment Association President Scott Munro said in a statement Monday. “You cannot weaken morale, drive experienced Detectives out, and discourage new recruits while expecting public safety to improve.”“The mayor should be supporting Detectives, not advancing policies that treat them as the problem and make it harder to do their jobs,” he added.Policemen’s Benevolent Association Patrick Hendry said he saw through the review announcement in a separate statement Monday.“The mayor’s radical base wants a wholesale dismantling of the NYPD, and it’s clear this announcement is an attempt to appease them,” Mr. Hendry said. “It won’t work and it won’t make New Yorkers any safer.”Mr. Munro and Mr. Hendry both railed against the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the body charged with evaluating and investigating claims of police abuse.“Mayor Mamdani would rather empower and fund agencies like the biased, anti-police CCRB and defund and dismantle vital units across the NYPD instead of being a leader who supports the men and women in blue who keep our city safe,” Mr. Munro said.The department has also rolled out an updated notification system to prevent officers facing disciplinary action from retiring before they can be held accountable, a direct response to news last week that the officer who shot and killed 19-year-old Win Rozario in 2024 was allowed to retire while review of that case was still ongoing. The force is also improving its reporting of bad cops to the state to prevent them from joining other police departments and sharing police-involved death data and will more readily share information with families of those killed by police, according to the mayor’s office.Retired NYPD Police Chief John M. Chell, who has announced plans to run against Mr. Mamdani in 2029, addressed the left’s demands to rein in the police in an X post Wednesday, calling them a “looming disaster.”“Mark my words: if these soft-on-crime policy dreams come to fruition, I fear this city will be back in the proverbial gutter within a few years — and may never recover,” he wrote. “The very people our government vowed to protect will bear the brunt of this looming disaster.”

Mamdani’s New Cop Crackdown Will See Exodus From NYPD, Police Unions Warn

Mamdani’s New Cop Crackdown Will See Exodus From NYPD, Police Unions Warn

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