Will Mamdani Abolish Police, or Simply Make Them Obsolete

Photo by Toms

As part of his proposed city budget for 2026, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani just canceled the NYPD’s plan to hire 5,000 more police officers, undoing a key component of his predecessor Eric Adams’s initiatives. The move aligns with Mamdani’s campaign promise to keep police budgets and hiring in check. The young mayor also promised to create a Department of Community Safety while campaigning, an agency that, in theory, would divert certain emergency calls away from police.