{"id":726185,"date":"2026-06-26T00:43:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T00:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/726185\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T00:43:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T00:43:11","slug":"activists-rip-mamdani-for-boosting-nypd-headcount-breaking-police-crackdown-campaign-pledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/726185\/","title":{"rendered":"Activists rip Mamdani for boosting NYPD headcount, breaking police crackdown campaign pledge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Activists slammed former \u201cdefund the police\u201d advocate Mayor Zohran Mamdani Thursday for swelling the ranks of New York\u2019s Finest in an about-face from his campaign pledge to reshape the NYPD.<\/p>\n

Around 50 elected officials and advocates, including from the local Democratic Socialists of America chapter, gathered around City Hall, calling out the mayor for proposing increasing the police department\u2019s headcount by 580 officers.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reason I am here is to help the mayor keep the commitment that were made,\u201d Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a Mamdani ally, said.<\/p>\n

Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said that he attended the rally to help the mayor keep his campaign pledges. Getty Images<\/p>\n

Hizzoner, on the campaign trail last year, had promised to freeze the NYPD\u2019s staffing at 35,000<\/a>. But his executive budget proposal would boost the ranks from the current 33,861 to 35,370 in the 2027 fiscal year. <\/p>\n

Samy Feliz, whose older brother Allan Feliz was fatally shot by NYPD Lt. Jonathan Rivera\u00a0during a 2019 traffic stop, also ripped Mamdani, who had called for the cop to be fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou even stood with my family and called Jonathan Rivera a murderer and he has yet to be fired. Why haven\u2019t you delivered on any of it?\u201d Feliz said. \u201cWe\u2019re tired of waiting for unfulfilled promises.\u201d <\/p>\n

Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch determined in a nine-page ruling<\/a> that Rivera was justified because he was protecting the life of a fellow cop during the incident.<\/p>\n

Mamdani, during the campaign, also pledged the NYPD would stop sending cops to mental health-related 911 calls, proposing launching an entirely new, $1.1 billion Department of Community Safety that would dispatch outreach workers and counselors instead.<\/p>\n

Instead, he has launched a watered down roughly $260 million Mayor\u2019s Office of Community Safety.<\/p>\n

Samy Feliz with Williams at a 2025 protest calling for Lt. Jonathan Rivera to be fired after being cleared of wrongdoing. William C Lopez\/New York Post<\/p>\n

Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez said she wouldn\u2019t vote for the budget if it doesn\u2019t expand housing voucher programs. Tomas E. Gaston for NY Post<\/p>\n

Mamdani had also vowed to disband the NYPD\u2019s elite Strategic Response Group, scrap the department\u2019s gang database and end homeless encampment sweeps \u2014 though has yet to make good.<\/p>\n

The group of advocates and officials noted that the mayor was opting to spend scratch on hiring cops instead of housing or education \u2014 as the June 30 deadline for the City Council to approve the budget looms.<\/p>\n

Bronx Councilwoman Pierina Sanchez, a member of the legislative body\u2019s Progressive Caucus, said she would vote against the budget if Mamdani\u2019s promise to expand housing voucher programs like CityFHEPS isn\u2019t fulfilled.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cThat is what my kids need. That is what I need. That is what our people need. So please, as an ally, I will do the right thing to make true on your camping promises,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

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A separate group of landlords, homeowners and NYCHA residents formed the \u201cNew York Neighborhoods Coalition\u201d to demand Mamdani expand the program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis budget of broken promises is a slap in the face to all New Yorkers who are struggling to stay in their home and live in dignity,\u201d said coalition member Pastor Richard E. Griffiths, of the Bronx Bethany Church of the Nazarene.<\/p>\n

The mayor said he was taking the criticism into consideration during final budget negotiations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI appreciate the fact that their concern comes from a desire for the city to be the best that it can be, the safest that it could be,\u201d he told News12. \u201cAnd as the mayor, you appreciate and take into consideration everyone\u2019s views and opinions on these things.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Activists slammed former \u201cdefund the police\u201d advocate Mayor Zohran Mamdani Thursday for swelling the ranks of New York\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":726186,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,26189,451,2053,5871,3,4036,452,453,194,10766],"class_list":["post-726185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-city-budget","tag-headlines","tag-housing","tag-metro","tag-news","tag-nypd","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories","tag-us-news","tag-zohran-mamdani"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=726185"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/726185\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/726186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=726185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=726185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=726185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}