Zohran Mamdani speaks during the NYC mayoral debate on June 24, 2025, as questions loom over his views on policing. (Getty)
The self-described socialist candidate went on to cite "forced overtime" as a leading cause for many New York City police officers' decision to leave their jobs, noting that NYPD officers receive around 200,000 emergency calls pertaining to a mental health crisis every year.
"The fact that every year we ask them to take on additional responsibilities – we are making it more and more difficult for them to respond to the very responsibilities that drew them to the job in the first place," Mamdani argued. "New Yorkers rightfully have concerns around public safety, and I want to empower police officers to respond to serious crime and hire the mental health professionals to respond to mental health calls."
FLASHBACK: ZOHRAN MAMDANI PLEDGED TO 'DISBAND' KEY POLICE UNIT THAT HANDLES MASS SHOOTINGS
Zohran Mamdani is joined on the campaign trail by Sen. Elizabeth Warren on Aug. 4, 2025, in New York City. (Fox 5 New York)
Meanwhile, during a podcast appearance in 2020, the same year Mamdani made his now infamous social media posts calling to defund the NYPD, the socialist candidate for mayor also suggested police should not be the ones responding to domestic violence calls.
"If somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence – there are so many different, different situations that would far better be handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations as opposed to an individual with a gun who has received quite a limited amount of training in general," Mamdani said at the time.
MAMDANI, CUOMO CLASH OVER WHO IS BETTER AT SUPPORTING LAW ENFORCEMENT AFTER MANHATTAN MASS SHOOTING
In response to Mamdani's calls to have social workers, not police officers, respond to certain 911 calls related to mental health crises, incumbent Mayor Eric Adams, himself a former NYPD captain, called the idea "irresponsible" and "reckless."
"So when you put civilians in harm's way to respond to a domestic violence incident, that's irresponsible and it's reckless," Adams said while criticizing Mamdani's public safety platform, according to CBS News.
Zohran Mamdani's plan to replace police with social workers for certain 911 calls has been described as "irresponsible" and "reckless" by incumbent NYC Mayor Eric Adams. (Getty Images)
In Mamdani's 17-page public safety plan released earlier this year amid his race to be the Democratic Party's candidate for NYC mayor, he diverged from many of his primary opponents in that he did not envision hiring more officers to the force, according to the New York Times. Rather, per his plan, Mamdani would work to create a Department of Community Safety aimed at expanding mental health teams and other non-law enforcement personnel who can respond to certain 911 calls.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
Mamdani's proposal also spoke to eliminating the NYPD's overtime budget and its task force that is responsible for dealing with protests, according to The Times.
Former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has been a staunch critic of Mamdani's approach to public safety and police, released his public safety platform on Monday, calling for increasing the number of officers on the NYPD's force by about 5,000.
Cuomo, who is running as an Independent after losing to Mamdani in the Democratic Party primary, also wants to increase officer pay and improve access to benefits and pensions for retired officers.
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/replace-cops-social-workers-transit-ambassadors-some-911-calls-mamdani