After Recent Shootings & Tragic Slaying of 69-year-old Bystander, Cuomo Doubles Down on His Plan to Hire 5,000 NYPD Officers; Return Size of Force Back to Dinkins/Giuliani Levels; Deploy Precision Policing
Demands Mamdani Apologize for His Longtime Anti-NYPD Rhetoric; Come Clean with NYers on his Support for the DSA Defund, Disarm, and Disband Law Enforcement Agenda
"It's Mamdani’s Own Project 2025." - Andrew Cuomo
Harlem, NY – Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, candidate for New York City Mayor today, standing feet away from where a 69-year-old innocent bystander lost her life from a stray bullet yesterday, outlined the vital need for his plan to hire and retain 5,000 new police officers to backfill historic attrition rates at the NYPD and return the size of the force back to levels from the Dinkins and Giuliani eras.
In addition, Cuomo demanded that his opponent, Zoharan Mamdani, apologize for and repudiate his past anti-NYPD rhetoric, his vows to defund the police and disband the elite Strategic Response Group that responds to mass shootings and other major emergencies. Cuomo said Mamdani, a proud card carrying member of the Democratic Socialists of America, must come clean about his support for the DSA anti-public safety agenda that calls for disarming and defunding police budgets to zero, closing all jails and prisons and releasing people held involuntarily in psychiatric hospitals, decriminalizing the sex and drug trades, and stopping enforcement of all misdemeanor offenses.
“Twelve years of mismanagement in City Hall have left the NYPD rank and file defunded, demoralized and resigning in droves, all to the detriment of public safety,” Governor Cuomo said. “Yesterday, a poor woman minding her own business, crossing the street with her walker, tragically lost her life. This is completely unacceptable. We need to make investments now to reverse years of damage caused by ‘defund-the-police’ policies and to give New Yorkers the motivated and fully-staffed police department they deserve. Part of the problem has been anti- police politicians like Zohran Mamdani, who for years has attacked the NYPD as racist, anti-queer and a major threat to public safety. This is all part of the DSA’s radical anti-law enforcement agenda, which Mamdani is now refusing to answer basic questions about. This is Donald Trump and Project 2025 all over again. New Yorkers deserve answers and Mamdani must apologize for his past comments about the NYPD and come clean about his support of the DSA platform. Make no mistake: This is Mamdani’s own Project 2025.”
Mamdani has advanced dangerous positions that would prevent police from responding to domestic violence calls, replacing them with social workers, and replacing officers responding to traffic stops, which is where many illegal guns are discovered, with DOT workers.
With the NYPD experiencing all time low attrition in 2024, Governor Cuomo’s proposal builds off of Mayor Dinkins administration’s Safe Streets/Safe Cities initiative, which proposes adding 5,000 officers to the city’s police force – this would bring the NYPD headcount to roughly the same levels at the Dinkins/ Giuliani administrations.
The added workforce will be deployed to increase neighborhood patrols, allowing for better rapid emergency response, and will deploy police officers to precision policing and enhance community engagement. Under this plan, 1,500 of the 5,000 new hires will be dedicated to subway safety. As part of this effort, Cuomo has proposed a robust incentive package to help attract and retain NYPD officers. Additionally, Cuomo proposed increasing the SRG team by 400 officers over four years to improve coverage in all five boroughs, particularly at major transit hubs, commercial corridors, and high-risk public spaces.
In contrast, Mamdani’s DSA has a platform that includes:
- Defund the police; cut budgets annually towards zero
- Free all people from involuntary confinement — end prisons and jails
- End all misdemeanor offenses
- End investment in police training; disarm law enforcement officers
- Repeal truancy law
- Decriminalize squatting and other occupation of unused housing
- Decriminalize sex work and the drug trade.
###