Mayoral candidates back different strategies for public safety in NYC
NEW YORK CITY (WABC) -- The primary in New York City is just 84 days away and one of the focuses among the Democrats is how to fight crime.
While many of the candidates want more officers on the streets, one mayoral candidate wants to fight crime without adding more cops.
Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani wants more community policing instead of more officers.
Mamdani may be the only mayoral candidate who says New York City already has enough police officers.
Instead, what the city needs, he says, is more homeless outreach in the subway system and more anti-violence programs in the streets.
And he wants to spend $1 billion to do it.
"Police have a critical role to play, but right now we are relying on them to deal with the failures of the social safety net of reliance that is preventing them from doing their actual jobs," Mamdani said.
Mamdani, a democratic socialist from Queens, says he would not cut the NYPD's budget, but would fund the program in part by taxing corporations and the city's wealthiest residents.
"I have been consistent in saying that the wealthiest New Yorkers and the most profitable corporations across the state can afford to pay that little bit more to keep all of us safe," Mamdani said.
Several other candidates want to hire police officers.
State Senator Zellnor Myrie wants to add 3,000.
So does former city comptroller Scott Stringer, who once called for defunding the police, as did current comptroller Brad Lander, who now wants to hire at least 1,500.
Public safety is the focus of Andrew Cuomo's campaign.
The former governor wants to hire 5,000 officers.
It's all amusing to the city's current mayor who cited statistics that crime in the city is trending lower.
"The job of the police is to keep us safe. That's the job of the police. And so when you do an analysis, all of these candidates that are talking about our cities in chaos, our city is not safe, where are they getting the stats from," Mayor Adams said.
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