Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has recently made it clear that he no longer supports the idea of defunding the police. However, his choices for his transition team seem to send a different message altogether.
One of his picks for the “community safety” committee is Alex Vitale, a professor at Brooklyn College. Vitale is well-known for his belief that the police force should be abolished entirely. In fact, he authored a book titled “The End of Policing,” which argues that the problem lies not in police training, diversity, or methods, but in policing itself.
Vitale has been critical of broken-windows policing, which focuses on cracking down on minor offenses to prevent more serious crimes. He has also accused NYPD officers of unfairly targeting minorities. Mamdani, in the past, has made disparaging remarks about the police force as well, calling them “racist, anti-queer, and a major threat to public safety.”
In addition to Vitale, Mamdani’s transition team includes other anti-cop leaders who have advocated for radical changes to policing. For example, Elana Leopold, a former adviser to Bill de Blasio, co-signed a letter in 2020 calling for a $1 billion cut in the NYPD’s budget. Joo-Hyun Kang from Communities United for Police Reform, Jose Lopez, and Dana Rachlin are also part of the team and have been vocal about their opposition to traditional policing methods.
On the community-organizing committee, Mamdani has appointed Lumumba Bandele, a black nationalist with ties to the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement. Bandele’s association with individuals convicted of killing police officers has raised concerns about his appointment.
The transition team comprises members from various left-leaning organizations, such as the Legal Aid Society, New York Civil Liberties Union, Make the Road New York, and the Democratic Socialists of America. These individuals are unlikely to challenge Mamdani’s plans to redirect funds from the NYPD to a new Department of Community Safety and implement other changes that could effectively defund the police force.
While Mamdani’s transition team is primarily advisory in nature, their views on critical issues like policing are cause for concern. It remains to be seen how these appointments will impact NYPD operations and public safety in the city. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch may face challenges beyond what she anticipated, and the city as a whole could be affected by the decisions made by the new administration.
