Former NYPD Chief John Chell blasts Mayor Zohran Mamdani over police cuts

Former New York Metropolis Police Division (NYPD) Chief John Chell has shot the mayor of New York Zohran Mamdani for rolling again the deliberate hiring of 5,000 further cops amid a billion-dollar metropolis funds deficit, calling it a “recipe for catastrophe.”

Mamdani’s predecessor, mayor Eric Adamsproposed on the finish of his time period that town rent a further 5,000 NYPD officers.

Upon taking workplace, Mamdani determined to cancel all orders signed by Adams following his September 26, 2024 indictment, together with the proposed NYPD employees enhance.

MAMDANI SIGNALS SOLUTION OF NYPD PROTEST UNIT, CALLS FOR HIGHER TAXES ON TOP 1% AGAINST BUDGET BILL

New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks throughout a press convention at Deno’s Marvel Wheel on Coney Island within the New York Metropolis Borough of Brooklyn. (Kyle Mazza/Anadolu through Getty Pictures)

In accordance with Adams’ plan the NYPD would progressively rent extra officers over the approaching years, ultimately permitting the NYPD to place about 40,000 officers on the streets, whereas Mamdani’s plan brings the quantity nearer to the present degree of about 35,000.

‘We’d like about 40,000 [officers]and we’re proper round 34,000. So if we carry again 5,000, we’ll most likely lose near 4,000 extra, similar to final yr,” Chell mentioned on Fox & Mates on Thursday.

“Recipe for catastrophe. Public security is the important thing to New York Metropolis.”

Mamdani has additionally confronted backlash for threatening a virtually 10% enhance in property taxes, which may affect tens of millions of residents if Albany doesn’t agree to lift earnings taxes on town’s wealthiest.

In entrance of a portray by Alexander Hamilton, Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks to reporters in regards to the metropolis’s funds throughout a press convention in New York on February 17, 2026. (Seth Wenig/AP Photograph)

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Opponents say the transfer may put strain on middle-class householders – lots of whom voted for Mamdani – by triggering lease will increase whereas landlords go the prices on to tenants.

MAMDANI Proposes Reducing NYPD Funds and Hiring 5,000 New Officers

As Mamdani unveiled his authorities’s preliminary funds for the 2027 fiscal yr on Tuesday, he laid out two choices for town to stability its funds in gentle of the $12 billion financing hole recognized by his group, which was decreased to $5.4 billion after anticipated financial savings, revenues and state help.

The primary path includes working with Albany to lift earnings taxes on the 33,000 New Yorkers who make greater than $1 million a yr. growing company taxes in regards to the metropolis’s most worthwhile corporations, Mamdani mentioned.

The second choice considerations a 9.5% enhance in property taxes Greater than 3 million residential models and greater than 100,000 industrial buildings could be affected, in accordance with the mayor’s estimates. It will additionally want to lift $980 million from town’s Wet Day Fund and $229 million from the Retiree Well being Advantages Belief.

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“So you are going to increase my taxes by 10%, and you are going to cut back my public security for my metropolis. That is very palatable for me to remain in New York Metropolis, proper?” Chell mentioned.

‘We will not pay for every thing. Not every thing could be free. However what you want are cops on the road. Inform me how all these packages can assist you if you happen to get robbed in the midst of the road?”

Amanda Macias and Rachel Wolf of Fox Information Digital contributed to this report.