Op-ed views and opinions expressed are solely those of the author.

The law enforcement veteran and InVest USA founder discusses the latest move by the controversial mayor, which will likely have consequences.

It’s official – New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is still trying to defund the police. But this time, literally.

After spending years discussing how everyone had a point behind that dreaded “defund the police” campaign that’s been making the rounds over the past few years, he’s now doing it for real. And it could hurt the Big Apple in more ways than anyone expects.

According to Fox News, Mamdani is hard at work on fixing the city’s budget. But guess who’s stuck holding the tab? That’s right, the New York Police Department – the same department that he’s noted he would not defund.

Mamdani already cancelled a previous order put in by former Mayor Eric Adams to hire 5,000 more officers to the NYPD – officers, by the way, that are sorely needed with the rise in criminal activity within the city. That was a plan that would’ve made a difference for the officers running themselves ragged under poor leadership and lack of funding (from – surprise! – “defund the police”).

He noted how if budget cuts didn’t follow a certain path (including these budget cuts), the city “will be forced down a second, more harmful path. Faced with no other choice, the city would have to exercise the only revenue lever fully within our own control. We would have to raise property taxes. We would also be forced to raid our reserves to balance the budget as required by law.”

Oh, really? But Adams was able to work around this problem and get the budget needed to bolster the police force. So why can’t you, Mamdani?

That’s right, you hate the police. And it’s clear as day to see.

Not to mention that these budget cuts would do away with a potential community safety office. One would think that would be high on the agenda, especially considering – again – the rise in criminal activity within the city, especially with illegal immigrants left and right.

I’m not the only one to see it. Claudia Tenney, who serves as a Republican in New York, made it clear that Mamdani is following up on his old “defund the police” ways. “When it became politically inconvenient, he said he wouldn’t cut law enforcement. Now, he’s cancelling 5,000 new officers and cutting the NYPD budget. Mamdani has always been anti-law enforcement.” Yep, it clearly shows.

Republican Councilor Joanna Ariola also made note that the cuts shouldn’t be happening. “There are plenty of agencies where cuts can be made, but the NYPD is not one of them. This, likely the wildly overinflated deficit, is yet another scare tactic to pressure Albany into the tax hikes he promised his (Democratic Socialists of America) base. He’s telling (Governor Kathy) Hochul, ‘Give me what I want, or risk mayhem on the streets in an election year.”

Jeez. Now it just makes sense. Mamdani is trying to defund the NYPD not just for his current agenda, but for what lies ahead in the future. He wants the city to fall into chaos so the Governor will cave to his demands. Ridiculous.

The National Republican Congressional Committee didn’t hold back either. “House Democrats endorsed him, House Democrats endorsed this,” they noted, pointing at how they were quick to make sure police didn’t get the promised funding during the Biden era.

So what could happen from this? Dare I say it, but we could see more officers quitting out of disgust for what Mamdani is doing. We already saw thousands leave over the past few years from fallout over terminations over the COVID vaccine (which was clearly not their fault), and others go because the “defund the police” fire was too tough to take.

But Mamdani’s level of damage is catastrophic – and without proper funding for gear and mental health support, may be too much to bear.

Sadly, it doesn’t look like he’ll change course. Despite all this criticism from legitimate sources, we’re going to see him and his council run roughshod in an effort to “stick it” to Trump. But the citizens of New York City are going to hurt even more, especially as crime gets out of hand.

Wake up, Zohran. Your new future is going to be the “more harmful path” you’re insisting you’ll avoid.

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Michael Letts

Michael A. Letts, Founder, President, and CEO of In-Vest USA, a national grassroots non-profit organization that is helping hundreds of communities provide thousands of bullet-proof vests for their police forces through educational, public relations, sponsorship, and fundraising programs.

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