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‘Enormous clout’ needed for Mamdani’s plan to move NYPD duties to new agency, experts say
By
Charles Lane
Published Aug 11, 2025
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Mostafa Bassim/Anadolu via Getty Images
By
Charles Lane
Published Aug 11, 2025
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Public safety experts say a proposal from mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani to create a new city agency shows promise, but raises tough questions about whether it can work.
Mamdani has said he wants to launch a Department of Community Safety, funded with $600 million from existing budget allocations and $450 million in new revenue, mostly in the form of additional taxes. The department would shift mental health and homelessness calls, along with violence prevention programs, away from the NYPD.
“Police have a critical role to play,” the Democratic mayoral nominee wrote in a 17-page policy paper. “But right now, we’re relying on them to deal with our frayed social safety net, which prevents them from doing their actual jobs.”
Consolidating scattered programs
Much of Mamdani’s plan builds on programs that already exist across city government. Richard Aborn, president of the Citizen’s Crime Commission, said centralizing them could help.
“That central coordinating authority is really important, but it has to have clout,” he said. “Whether something is a department or a bureau or an agency is important, but whatever you do with it, you have to make sure it has enormous clout.”
Mamdani has not detailed how much authority the new department would have. A campaign policy adviser acknowledged it would take time to build.
“A department like this is a process,” said Josie Duffy Rice, a frequent police critic who informally advises Mamdani’s campaign. “It takes a lot of different voices, and some of those voices are not going to be on the same page.”
Staffing questions
Mamdani’s plan would expand the city workforce with licensed mental health professionals and outreach teams, while maintaining current police staffing levels.
“He plans on maintaining the same number of police officers the NYPD currently has and employing additional, dedicated mental health professionals and crisis response experts,” campaign spokesperson Dora Pekec said.
Former NYPD inspector Kenneth Quick said most officers would gladly give up social-service calls.
“Part of the problem is that the police and the NYPD are just so efficient,” Quick said. “What other government agency can you call and they'll be at your house in less than five minutes?”
But Quick warned that finding enough mental health professionals for the in-person work could be difficult.
“It's hard to find ones that don't want to work virtually,” he said.
Duffy Rice said the real challenge is money, not applicants.
“They have people for the job,” she said. “They don't have enough money to fund the job.”
Mamdani’s plan calls for paying social service workers a living wage, funded by new taxes on the wealthy and corporations.
Political balancing act
Experts told Gothamist that any new department must be as influential as the NYPD to be effective.
“In city government structures, titles, reporting lines and designations of whether something is a department or a bureau or an agency are important,” Aborn said. “If they get a call from whatever the public safety apparatus the new mayor ends up setting up, it’s a call that has to be taken.”
The involvement of Duffy Rice underscores the political tightrope Mamdani must walk. He has faced attacks from Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who have seized on his past “defund the police” comments and dismissed his plan as an “experiment.”
Adams announced he'd run as an independent ahead of this year's Democratic primary. Cuomo did the same after Mamdani soundly defeated him in the June contest. Curtis Sliwa, the Republican candidate, criticized the proposal as a simple rebranding of existing programs.
In a 2020 article, Duffy Rice described anti-violence programs similar to those Mamdani is now proposing as “a first step along the path” toward abolishing traditional policing. She argues that money invested in prevention, treatment and resources for vulnerable communities would obviate the need for many police, though she acknowledges a need for "professionals" to go after heinous crimes such as rape or murder.
Duffy Rice said the debate over policing has become unnecessarily polarized.
“I think that this issue of what policing should look like ends up being a very political issue when I'm not sure it needs to be,” she said, adding that “back the blue” rhetoric “leads to policy that's bad for police and bad for the people being policed.”
Mac Muir, a former investigator for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, said Mamdani’s plan could win over skeptics if it focuses on prevention.
“The more Mamdani distances himself from ‘defund the police’ and ‘abolish the police,’ the more likely he's going to be able to work with the police unions and the brass,” Muir said.
Tagged
Politics
new york city
public safety
Charles Lane
Charles is a Day-of reporter focused on breaking news and enterprise. He’s very friendly and can be reached at [email protected], or more securely on whatsapp/signal 631-295-6715
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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