Letter from 70 Orgs to Mamdani: Invest in Care, Not More Cops

Mayor Zohran Mamdani

City Hall New York, NY 10007

Cc: First Deputy Mayor Dean Fuleihan, Deputy Mayor of Community Safety Renita Francois, Office of Community Safety Commissioner Ayesha Delany-Brumsey, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch

Subject: Opposition to NYPD Headcount Increase and Expansion of Broken Windows Policing

Dear Mayor Mamdani,

Your election as mayor gave us hope for a genuine break from the failed policing-first approach that has criminalized our communities for decades and left unaddressed the actual challenges that low-income New Yorkers are facing. We, the undersigned 70 organizations, share urgent and deep concerns about the direction your administration’s approach to public safety appears to be headed. We write not as opponents but as partners who believe New York City can lead the nation in building public safety systems grounded in care, as opposed to the ineffective, harmful and costly status quo of criminalization. To do so requires political courage and the willingness to hear from and act on the concerns of communities most harmed by over-policing:

The NYPD’s Escalating Criminalization of Poverty Will Result in Increased Harm, Not Safety

Under Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, beginning under Mayor Eric Adams and continuing into your administration, the NYPD has doubled down on using stops, tickets, and arrests in response to so-called quality of life issues. The department has launched a dedicated Quality of Life division and is deploying Q-Teams to respond to non-criminal, non-emergency 311 calls. Officers routinely violate the law by arresting New Yorkers for low-level offenses in situations where a non-arrest Desk Appearance Ticket (DAT) is mandatory, and abuse their discretion by automatically arresting New Yorkers in situations where DATs are discretionary and - could more effectively be addressed by connecting New Yorkers to services rather than arrest and prosecution. This enforcement surge has resulted in a sustained crisis of overcrowding and unsafe conditions - including multiple deaths and a birth - in central bookings this year. The department is also increasing the criminalization of public gatherings and spaces — a trend with particularly alarming implications this summer as our City hosts major sporting events and outdoors gatherings and the push to make vulnerable New Yorkers less visible will intensify. This kind of aggressive enforcement of low level offenses is broken windows policing, regardless of whether the Police Commissioner is willing to admit it or not. It has no causal relationship with a reduction in major crime and results in the criminalization of Black, Latine and other New Yorkers of color, immigrants and those with increased vulnerabilities due to unmet housing, substance use and mental health needs. It is harmful, costly, racist and ineffective public policy. 

The Proposed Addition of 580 New Officers Is the Wrong Investment

On the campaign trail, you pledged to keep NYPD officer headcount flat, yet your executive budget proposes to expand an already enormous police force at a moment when the city faces urgent unmet needs in housing, healthcare, and community-based mental health services. More officers will almost assuredly mean an escalation of the harms our communities are already suffering: more arrests for low-level offenses, more encounters that escalate unnecessarily, and more pressure on an already broken and biased discipline system that allows officers to abuse New Yorkers with impunity.

New York City does not have a police staffing shortage. It has a resource allocation problem — too many resources flowing to criminalization and too few flowing to care. Every dollar invested in expanding NYPD headcount is a dollar not invested in the community-based, care and housing-first infrastructure that actually produces safety.

We call on your administration to take the following concrete steps:

1.     Eliminate the 580 proposed new officers and keep NYPD headcount flat. 

2.     End Q-Team response to 311 calls. 311 is a civilian service system. These calls should be routed to city agencies that are designed to address the underlying concerns, rather than the NYPD, which only leads to the criminalization of public concerns.  

3.     End sweeps of homeless encampments. Sweeps are not public safety — they are displacement. They cause harm, destroy property and make it harder for unhoused New Yorkers to access services. 

4.     End arrests for low-level offenses that are based in social and economic challenges. Instead, invest in connecting New Yorkers to services to meet their needs and in addressing our City’s affordability crisis, for example by increasing access to free transit and truly affordable housing.

5.    Invest in care, prevention, and community-based support. Fund Intensive Mobile Treatment (IMT) teams and step-down capacity; crisis stabilization centers and respite centers; community-based behavioral health services; low-barrier housing; school restorative justice programs, non-police violence prevention, and a robust expansion of the social services workforce. These are the investments that increase safety.

Mayor Mamdani, New Yorkers elected you because they believed in your vision for a New York City in which we can all thrive, including the most marginalized New Yorkers who are suffering in public and have been met by past administrations with brutality, arrests and tickets. This vision must include an approach to public safety that is rooted in care, not criminalization. Accommodating a Police Commissioner and NYPD doubling down on broken windows policing, proposing to grow the force, and staying silent in the face of documented abuses — is contradictory to that vision, a failed approach, and waste of resources that could be transformative if invested in communities.

We are ready to partner with you and offer our expertise rooted in the lived experience of our members, clients and constituents. We ask that you bring the political will to meet us. We look forward to your response and to meaningful engagement on each of the demands above.

In solidarity,

Allan Feliz Foundation

Alliance for Quality Education

America On Trial Inc. (AOT)

American Friends Service Committee

Anthony Baez Foundation

Bronx Móvil

Brooklyn Defender Services

CASES

Center for Community Alternatives (CCA)

Center for Constitutional Rights

Center for Law and Social Justice at Medgar Evers College

Citizen Action of New York

Community Capacity Development

Community Connections for Youth

Community Voices Heard

Court Watch NYC

Drug Policy Alliance

DRUM - Desis Rising up & Moving

El Puente

Equality for Flatbush (E4F)

Exodus Transitional Community, Inc.

Freedom Agenda

G.A.N.G.S. Coalition

Gender Liberation Movement

HALT Solitary Campaign

Harlem United

Housing Works

Immigrant Defense Project

Jails Action Coalition (JAC)

Jews For Racial & Economic Justice (JFREJ)

Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club

Justice and Beyond inc.

Justice Committee

Justice for Families, LTD

Katal Center Equity, Health, and Justice

LatinoJustice PRLDEF

Legal Action Center

LIFE Camp, Inc.

Make the Road New York

Malcolm X Grassroots Movement - NYC Chapter

Middle Church

Muslim Community Network (MCN)

Myra's Kids Inc.

NAACP Legal Defense Fund

National Harm Reduction Coalition

National Homelessness Law Center

Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem

New Kings Democrats

New York Civil Liberties Union

New York Communities for Change

New York County Defender Services

North American Climate, Conservation and Environment (NACCE)

Osborne Association

Policing and Social Justice Project

Safety Net Project - Urban Justice Center

SURJ NYC

Tempest Collective-NYC

The Bronx Defenders

The Center for Anti-Violence Education

The Circle Keepers

The Fortune Society

The Gathering for Justice / Justice League NYC

The Legal Aid Society

The People's Plan

UAW Region 9A

Vera Institute of Justice

Visionary V Ministries

VOCAL-NY

WCJA

Youth Represent

Daniel Ravelo