Democratic mayoral front-runner Zohran Mamdani apologized on to NYPD officers Wednesday for declaring years in the past that the whole Police Division is “racist.”
The mea culpa marked the primary time Mamdani has provided an apology to the division’s uniformed employees as a complete for the tough criticism he leveled in opposition to them. He has mentioned for weeks that he’s apologized to NYPD officers in personal conversations for the feedback.
Mamdani leveled the racism accusation on-line in opposition to the NYPD in 2020 earlier than he was elected to his present submit as a state Meeting member representing components of western Queens.
“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,” Mamdani wrote within the June 2020 submit.
Since launching his mayoral marketing campaign, Mamdani has distanced himself from his personal submit, saying he wouldn’t as mayor search to defund the NYPD. Quite, he has promised to maintain police funding flat and attempt to relieve NYPD officers of the accountability of responding to psychological well being calls by creating a brand new company to supervise that.
Looking for to clarify his 2020 submit, Mamdani mentioned within the look that it got here from a spot of ache within the wake of the homicide of George Floyd. Since then, he mentioned he has come to understand that police play an important position in guaranteeing “justice” for New Yorkers.
“And now what I know — having represented 100,000 people in western Queens — is that to deliver that justice you have to also deliver that safety, and that means representing the men and women of the NYPD,” mentioned Mamdani, who’s polling as the favourite to win the Nov. 4 mayoral election.
In response to Mamdani’s apology, Police Benevolent Affiliation President Patrick Hendry, whose union represents the NYPD’s rank-and-file officers, mentioned the actions of the following mayor “matter more” than phrases.
“An apology will not improve police officers’ quality of life. It will not protect them from being assaulted by dangerous repeat offenders or having their rights trampled by the CCRB,” Hendry mentioned, referring to the Civilian Grievance Evaluation Board that probes misconduct claims in opposition to officers. “Those are the issues we are focused on now, and they’re the same ones we’ll be discussing with the next mayor after Election Day.”
With Graham Rayman
Initially Printed: October 15, 2025 at 5:52 PM EDT
