As the new year approaches, the New York City mayoral election winner, Zohran Mamdani, has focused heavily on prepping his new administration for the road ahead. With many watchful eyes on the controversial progressive policies Mamdani hopes to implement, his plans for a Safety Agency have raised the most eyebrows. Recently, it seems that he has reached some major headway in getting that particular project off the ground.
According to the New York Times, Brooklyn progressive City Council member Lincoln Restler introduced a bill that would help create a Department of Community Safety. According to Restler, the new bill has 26 co-sponsors who are on the council.
Mamdani’s Department of Community Safety is the mayoral-elect’s most polarizing project in his administration’s plan. If implemented, the new department will radically change how policing and safety looks within the Big Apple. It is a community-based approach that aims on taking a preventative and rehabilitation approach on emergency calls that deal with mental health or homelessness. The department hopes that it can reduce violent outcomes and gain community trust by dispatching mental health professionals to specific non-violent calls. This will hopefully lead to a police force that isn’t spread thin and boosting the availability of officers to more pressing calls.
“Public safety is more than policing. This agency will establish 24/7 offices focused on mental health, outreach & de-escalation to keep NYers safe.” Restler added on an instagram post.
Despite the outrage from many conservative and republican voices, Mamdani has pointed towards other succesful community-based safety departments that has been implemented in other cities across America, including Albuquerque, New Mexico, and Baltimore, Maryland.
