Activists slammed former “defund the police” advocate Mayor Zohran Mamdani Thursday for swelling the ranks of New York’s Finest in an about-face from his campaign pledge to reshape the NYPD.
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’s headcount by 580 officers.
“The reason I am here is to help the mayor keep the commitment that were made,” Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, a Mamdani ally, said.
Hizzoner, on the campaign trail last year, had promised to freeze the NYPD’s staffing at 35,000. But his executive budget proposal would boost the ranks from the current 33,861 to 35,370 in the 2027 fiscal year…