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Mamdani Courts the Cops
The American Prospect ^ | October 8, 2025 | Robert Kuttner

Posted on 10/09/2025 9:10:31 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum

Today on TAP: He is doing a lot better than you might think.

Even before he formally declared for mayor, Zohran Mamdani’s supporters and critics agreed on one thing: His toughest challenge would be addressing the issue of public safety in New York and winning over a highly skeptical police force. In July, all 13 NYC public safety unions endorsed Mayor Eric Adams, who has since dropped out.

Mamdani has gone about the project of winning support from the police in the same fashion that has made him such an effective campaigner generally—by listening. And as mayor, he could end up achieving something that has eluded other mayors: real reform that unites the interests of citizens and ordinary cops. Or, as he puts it, “reconciling safety with justice.”

Without fanfare, Mamdani has been meeting in small groups with hundreds of rank-and-file patrolmen and women to listen to what’s on their minds. The thing about active listening is not that it makes great campaign video—it’s that you learn things. Mamdani’s meetings with beat cops are on a par with his famous conversations with Halal street vendors, in which he learned that the price of a plate of lamb or chicken is $2 more than it should be because they have to bribe middlemen to get permits.

In his meetings with cops, Mamdani learned that police are quitting the department at the rate of 350 a month, up from 200 a month when he began his campaign, mainly because of forced overtime. “You plan a weekend with your family and at the last minute you are told you have to work,” Mamdani said on a recent edition of The View with Whoopi Goldberg.

Why compulsory overtime? “Because we ask cops to do everything,” Mamdani added. “We’re asking cops to handle mental health calls,...

(Excerpt) Read more at prospect.org ...


TOPICS: Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: andrewcuomo; curtissliwa; defundthepolice; ericadams; kathyhochul; newyork; newyorkcity; zohranmamdani

1 posted on 10/09/2025 9:10:31 AM PDT by E. Pluribus Unum
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

He talks like the President of Iran.


2 posted on 10/09/2025 9:22:09 AM PDT by TornadoAlley3 ( I'm Proud To Be An Okie From Muskogee)
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

He will need them to enforce fairness of distribution.


3 posted on 10/09/2025 10:28:10 AM PDT by If You Want It Fixed - Fix It
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Mamdani is a phony on everything except hatred for Israel. That’s his cause.
He uses everything else - “affordability,” sympathizing with cops about forced overtime, etc - as a cover.


4 posted on 10/09/2025 11:00:27 AM PDT by RAldrich
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

He promises them new cool uniforms with red armbands.


5 posted on 10/09/2025 11:02:32 AM PDT by central_va ( I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn...)
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To: AdmSmith; AnonymousConservative; Arthur Wildfire! March; Berosus; Bockscar; BraveMan; cardinal4; ...

6 posted on 10/09/2025 8:21:59 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (NeverTrumpers are Republicans the same way Liz Cheney is a Republican.)
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