She’s giving them the platform a bit longer.
Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Thursday she’s committing another $77 million toward keeping NYPD officers in the subway system during 2026 — a move that could crash headlong into Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s mental health team-focused “Department of Public Safety.”
Mamdani gave vaguely supportive remarks after the governor’s announcement, arguing he hopes to see the subway cops focus on serious crimes.
“Our focus will continue to be that officers are tasked with responding to serious and violent crimes, and that no longer do we ask them to be the primary responders to a homelessness crisis, to a mental health crisis, and that is where the Department of Community Safety will start to play,” he said during an unrelated event at Queens Community House.
The governor revealed the new subway cop money during a joint appearance with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, whom Mamdani has chosen to keep as top cop.
Subway crime has dipped to its lowest level in 16 years, Hochul crowed.
And overall transit crime is nearly 15% lower than in the pre-pandemic year of 2019, she said.
The drop in crime came after a sustained effort that put more cameras into the subway, an outreach effort that rousted the homeless into care from the trains and a surge of cops, Hochul contended.
The added $77 million will help extend the surge of cops, the governor said.
“These funds will support over 600 officers per day and keep riders safe and surge patrols where they are most needed at the discretion of our police commissioner to help cover overtime for those who are doing above and beyond,” she said. “To make sure that people can ride the subways without fear.”
The flood of cops arguably runs counter to Mamdani’s proposed Department of Community Safety, which he envisions would dispatch social workers to homelessness and mental health calls.
Mamdani, when asked about Hochul’s continued surge, said he wanted to make the best use of cops.
“My concern is, as someone who has grown up in the city, there have been many times where I have been walking through a subway station, and the only person that a New Yorker can find to ask any question of is a police officer,” he said. “And I know that our police officers have things of much more importance to do than to answer a question of which train is running and which exits are going to use.”
