STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Staten Island officials are sounding the alarm after Mayor Zohran Mamdani moved to scrap plans for hiring 5,000 additional NYPD officers — a reversal that critics in the borough say will leave an already understaffed force stretched even thinner.
According to the mayor’s newly released Financial Plan Detail for 2026–2030, the administration plans on “discontinuing the phased hiring of 5,000 additional police officers,” halting a buildup approved under former Mayor Eric Adams. Adams plan, introduced in October of 2025, called for boosting the NYPD to 40,000 uniformed officers by FY 2029, the highest headcount in two decades.
The planned expansion was set to begin in July 2026, with 300 additional officers, scaling up to 2,500 in 2027 and reaching 5,000 annually by 2028. With Mamdani’s reversal, the NYPD’s uniformed ranks are instead expected to hover just under 35,000…