The Democratic nominee to be the mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani, says his view of the New York Police Department as racist and “anti-queer” changed after he was elected to the state assembly.
Mr. Mamdani has come under fire for posts he made about the NYPD. In June 2020, he posted on X, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.”
However, now that he is running to be the mayor of America’s most populous city, he has changed his tune about the NYPD.
During an interview with WNYC’s Brian Lehrer on Thursday, Mr. Mamdani was asked about the apparent evolution of his views.
Mr. Lehrer said, “I know you no longer speak publicly in those terms, but do you still believe the NYPD is racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety?”
“No, I do not,” Mr. Mamdani answered. “I’ve made clear over the course of this campaign that the NYPD and police officers, in general, are critical partners in creating public safety for each and every New Yorker, each and every person who calls the city their home.”
He said his “agenda” for public safety is to “make it easier for those officers to focus on the serious crimes that many of them joined the department to address.”
The left-wing candidate said that the “first place” he went after returning from Uganda was to the home of slain NYPD officer, Didarul Islam, who was one of four people killed in a shooting at an office building at Manhattan in July.
“When I went there, I was reminded of the legacy of sacrifice and service that not only he embodied but that so many officers embody across the city each and every day,” Mr. Mamdani said.
Mr. Lehrer noted that candidates are “allowed” to have their views evolve and asked how he explained the transformation of his views.
Mr. Mamdani said, “Some of this stems from the fact that I then became an elected official representing Astoria and Long Island City, and worked alongside officers at my own precinct in the 114th.”
Mr. Mamdani was first elected to the state assembly in 2020, months after his tweet attacking the police department.
He also said he has had conversations with rank-and-file NYPD officers, which he said had “animated” his views of public safety.
“In those conversations, I’ve learned that so often while we discuss overtime within the NYPD as though it is purely a fiscal issue, it in fact also is an issue of quality of life for those same officers,” Mr. Mamdani said.
While he spoke about how conversations with NYPD officers shaped his view of issues with overtime, he did not share what kind of conversations or interactions he had that led him to no longer see the department as racist, anti-queer, and a threat to public safety.
Mr. Lehrer did not press him on the matter.
Mr. Mamdani also criticized Mayor Adams, as he said the current administration has not done enough to crack down on crime on subways and public transportation. The Democratic hopeful said he wants to deploy “teams of dedicated mental health professionals to the hundred subway stations with the highest rates of mental health crises and homelessness so that we can actually serve those very New Yorkers.”
Mr. Mamdani’s comments about the NYPD come as he faces increased scrutiny over his views of law enforcement and the department he will oversee if he is elected as mayor, in light of the shooting last month.
While he has previously called for defunding the police, his campaign has spent more than $33,000 on private security, Fox News reported.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by PostX News and is published from a syndicated feed.)
