New York City is built on the fundamental promise that you can ride the subway, open a business, raise a family, and expect the city to keep you safe through all of that. That promise, now more than ever, is under attack. Nowhere is that more evident than in Mayor-Elect Zohran Mamdani's proposed public safety plan.
Mamdani's plan would sideline law enforcement, empower criminals, and reduce deterrence. The mayor-elect has said he will implement a new "Department of Community Safety" to shift mental health crisis calls, homelessness outreach, and even some violent crime interventions, from the NYPD to social workers. He has also made it very clear that he does not want to support the police, telling New Yorkers that their city already has enough police officers. His plan is structured around spending about $1.1 billion on this new department while completely burying whatever little law enforcement tools are still left in New York City.
It is no secret that Mamdani carries a long record of sheer hostility toward the NYPD. He once posted, "We don't need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety. What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD." Now, his so-called pivot away from this hostile, vitriolic, police-hating rhetoric is little more than political cover.
When the police are treated not as the first line of defense, but as part of the problem, you remove the fundamentals of protection. You are essentially telling New Yorkers that their safety is negotiable. This is a scary reality that no one should ever have to face.
Mamdani's public safety plan is dangerous. It is the exact opposite of what New York City needs. The city needs a public safety plan that not only strengthens law enforcement, but also confronts the intersection of crime and mental health, especially on a state and local level. If we ignore the mental health and homelessness crises that fuel disorder, we fail the vulnerable. If we weaken law enforcement in the name of so-called "compassion," we fail everyone.
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Mental illness and homelessness do not exist in a vacuum, separated from crime. Unhoused individuals suffering from untreated mental health illnesses often become both victims and vectors of crime in their communities. Studies show that the mentally ill homeless population commits offenses at a much higher rate. That tells us two things: one, a mental health crisis is a public safety crisis. And two, you cannot treat it purely as a "health" problem and ignore enforcement. Where a crisis call turns dangerous, law enforcement presence must be immediate. That is why reforms in mental health care, homelessness outreach, and crisis response must happen at the state and local level.
Federal policy may set broad goals, but it cannot dictate how a patrol car in Queens or the Bronx responds to the next violent homelessness crisis, or how a judge in Manhattan handles a repeat violent offender with a history of mental health issues.
Legislation in New York State and New York City has handicapped enforcement. Bail reform laws restrict pretrial detention for many offenders, and repeat felons walk free while victims wait. For years, law-abiding New Yorkers have watched the system turn into a revolving door.
In a city like New York, you cannot wait for Washington while the next subway attack happens. The reality is that reform at the federal level simply does not move fast enough and does not shape policing on the ground. States and municipalities must own the tools: treatment capacity, emergency civil commitment laws, and local funding for supportive housing aligned with enforcement interventions.
Any real plan must couple enforcement and care, but shifting resources away from police first while aiming to build services later is backward. You need the cop in the car, the clinician in the car, and the housing link ready—all at once. We need law and care, operating side by side. We must commit to a city where law-abiding New Yorkers are protected, the vulnerable are helped, and the criminals know they face consequences.
We must expand and empower law enforcement. We must increase the NYPD headcount in transit hubs, gang hot spots, and areas where quality of life crime leads to greater threats. We must fund training in mental health crisis response, gang detection, and intelligence-led policing. Equip officers with modern tools.
We must also untie the hands of officers and prosecutors. We must restore judicial discretion in bail and pretrial detention for defendants who pose a danger to public safety. We should repeal bail reform laws that have prioritized release over accountability, criminals over victims. New York is NOT a free pass for criminals. Judges must be able to order detention when a known gang member with multiple violent arrests is charged again, even if current statutes limit that power. Prosecutors should be able to pursue enhanced sentences for habitual violent offenders.
Supporting the Trump administration and federal law enforcement in their public safety agenda is also critical. Public safety works best when federal, state, and local levels cooperate. Under President Trump's law and order agenda, federal agencies are prioritizing gang interdiction, fentanyl trafficking, and the prosecution of violent repeat offenders. New York should align itself with that mission.
One great example of working hand-in-hand with federal law enforcement is expanding participation in the 287(g) program, which allows local law enforcement officers to partner with federal immigration authorities to identify and remove violent criminal aliens. Sanctuary policies that bar cooperation with ICE only endanger communities. Empowering the NYPD to work alongside federal partners would ensure dangerous offenders do not cycle back onto our streets.
A serious city government run by common-sense elected officials would also welcome federal task-force partnerships, sharing intelligence, data, and resources to dismantle organized crime networks and drug pipelines that feed our neighborhoods' decline.
We must find a way to embed mental health and homelessness outreach within enforcement, perhaps by creating co-response teams in every precinct: a law enforcement officer, a mental health clinician, and a peer support specialist. When a 911 call involves someone on the street threatening commuters, the team goes together. The officer acts immediately to secure the scene, and the clinician begins assessment. We need our officers to be able to do what it takes to stabilize the environment before a non-law enforcement officer is brought in. Without the cop, the clinician becomes the casualty.
Ultimately, a public safety plan that works will prioritize victims and law-abiding citizens. Mamdani's plan is a misprioritization of the fundamentals of safety. By treating the police as part of the problem and by shifting critical responsibilities to non-enforcement teams, his vision weakens the first line of defense. Criminals will not wait for social workers, and Mamdani's plan undermines the brave men and women whose job is to act when seconds count.
Welding together the iron of law enforcement with the compassion of social service sends a very clear message that if you live by the rules, this city defends you. If you break the rules, you will face a system built to stop and prosecute you.
Nicole Kiprilov is a visiting fellow at Independent Women, a Republican strategist, executive director of The American Border Story, CEO & Founder of Sagamore Hill Strategies, and Portfolio Manager at The America Fund. She frequently appears on Newsmax, One America News, and Real America's Voice.
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