New York City Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani has been attempting to make inroads with local police following comments he made in 2020 that have been viewed as hostile toward police.
In recent weeks, Mamdani has met with dozens of active and retired New York City Police Department officers to see how he can win their support, according to a New York Times report. He has met with them in restaurants across the city and over the phone.
Following the police murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, Mamdani called for defunding the police. Officers have also been wary of his plan to create a Department of Community Safety, which would be responsive to 911 calls for mental health crises rather than police.
These ideas have made some law enforcement officials hesitant to back his candidacy, but officers have reportedly been advising him to gain their support moving forward.
At a Pakistani restaurant with around two dozen off-duty police officers, Shamsul Haque, the meeting’s organizer and a Bangladeshi American who spent 21 years in the NYPD, asked officers to hear Mamdani’s ideas out.
“I was not a fan of Mamdani at all, but as I got to know him more, I began to respect him and like him more,” he told CNN.
On one Zoom call with officers, Mamdani was advised to distance himself from past defund-the-police comments and told to contact union leaders to ask for their thoughts, according to the report.
Prominent police unions have yet to make an endorsement in the race, as they had by this time in the 2021 New York City mayoral race.
Mamdani has, however, received the support of a small group called the Jamaica Integrated Bangladeshi Officers Network. The group’s president, Karam Chowdhury, said Mamdani supported “reforming, not defunding, our police, ensuring they serve and protect without undermining the trust they’ve worked hard to earn.”
Mamdani has additionally received the support of prominent NYPD official Rodney Harrison, who served as chief of department, the department’s highest-ranking uniformed officer, before his retirement in 2021. Harrison said he still needs to make inroads with rank-and-file officers, however.
“It’s important that he says some things — and actions speak louder than words — that show he supports the rank and file,” he told the New York Times.
MAMDANI SHIFTS TO GENERAL ELECTION MODE WITH SOFTENED STANCES
A New York Times/Siena poll released Tuesday found that Mamdani maintains a strong edge over his competitors and has remained optimistic about winning over groups not yet widely backing him.
“You take every opportunity you can to build a relationship. Behind every headline, behind every caricature, I’ve found, is a New Yorker just trying to do their best,” Mamdani said Monday at an event at Columbia University.
