Mamdani revisits comments on defunding police following New York shooting

In the wake of New York City s deadliest mass shooting in years mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is revisiting previous calls to defund the police Didarul Islam a New York Police Department officer was one of four people killed in the shooting on Monday Mamdani addressed reporters on Wednesday after visiting with Islam s family saying he had no plans to abolish the NYPD I am not defunding the police I am not running to defund the police Mamdani noted Over the lesson of this race I ve been very clear about my view of community safety and the critical role that the police have in creating that constituents safety Mamdani noted he s a candidate who is not fixed in time one that learns and one that leads and part of that means admitting as I have grown Related Right-wing media makes NYC shooting all about Mamdani While Mamdani has a history of criticizing the NYPD his mayoral platform calls for incremental changes in policing Mamdani is pushing for taking mental wellness calls off the NYPD s plate and taking a residents medical approach to safety Mamdani s plan would have physical condition and mental robustness professionals respond to predicament calls a growing practice that s been put in place across the country Despite what others may say my vision is not to defund the police It is in fact to allow those officers to respond to the serious crimes that a large number of of them signed up to address Mamdani noted on Wednesday Mayor Eric Adams and former Gov Andrew Cuomo Democrats who are running as third-party candidates in November s mayoral voting process took the chance to bring up Mamdani s rhetoric in the aftermath of Monday s shooting Cuomo stated Mamdani doesn t understand the importance of the NYPD He has mentioned he was part of this defund the police movement Cuomo reported CNN on Tuesday It really is a reality check for all this political theory and political hype that we have going on in this country with the extreme left postulating these theories that have no connection to reality Read more about Zohran Mamdani Buttigieg Democrats need to learn from Mamdani to beat Trumpism Meet the young Republicans who want to deport Zohran Mamdani Mamdani s Democratic critics want to ruin his shot at winning The post Mamdani revisits comments on defunding police following New York shooting appeared first on Salon com