The Facts Don't Back Mamdani's Plan to Break Up the NYPD's Riot and Counterterror Unit

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is getting ready to keep one of his most controversial campaign promises: breaking up the New York Police Department's Strategic Response Group, the unit that handles counterterrorism and crowd control. The National Desk, citing a Politico report based on three unnamed sources, said the mayor could unveil the plan as soon as this week, possibly through an executive order.

City Hall is not denying it. Mayoral spokesperson Dora Pekec said the administration will disband the unit and separate protest response from counterterrorism, adding, "We will have more to share soon". One option under discussion is a new civilian unit that would take the lead at protests and could be placed in the Office of Community Safety, though the plan had not been finalized, according to the same report.

The case for the move deserves a fair hearing. Mamdani and his allies in the Democratic Socialists of America argue that the unit leans too heavily on physical force and that protest duty should be pulled apart from counterterrorism work, The National Desk reported. His office told City & State that its goal is to disband the group and end the practice of policing demonstrations through a counterterrorism unit, and that it is also reviewing the department's use-of-force policies. Those are real concerns about civil liberties, and Americans who treasure the First Amendment's guarantee of peaceable assembly should take them seriously.

But a sincere concern is not the same thing as a sound plan.

The Strategic Response Group is a roughly 600-officer unit, according to The Post Millennial, which reported that Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch has defended its role in handling demonstrations that involve criminal activity. It is not simply a protest squad. WNYC reported that the unit was designed as a reserve force to back up other units, with the Emergency Service Unit as the primary responder, in a crisis such as a mass shooting when those units are stretched thin.

That backstop role is not theoretical. In March, an attempted terrorist attack took place near Gracie Mansion, the mayor's own official residence, while protests were unfolding outside, and the Strategic Response Group was on standby in a backup role that day, News 12 reported. Even after that attack, Mamdani said he still believed the unit should be disbanded, according to News 12.

That is the lesson the mayor's plan overlooks. The attempted attack came during a demonstration. People who want to kill do not schedule their violence away from crowds; they seek crowds out. A city that walls off protest response from counterterrorism may discover, on the worst possible day, that it built the wall in the wrong place.

The timing is also hard to explain. New York recorded the fewest shooting incidents and murders in its recorded history during the first ten months of 2026, NY1 reported, citing NYPD figures released Nov. 9. Major crime fell 6.5 percent over that stretch, which the department called the largest year-to-date reduction in 17 years. Tisch pointed to "historic lows in shooting incidents, shooting victims, and murders," according to NY1.

The same figures show where the pressure remains. Shootings ticked up slightly in October compared with last year's record-setting month, and major crime in the subway system rose 12.7 percent in October. A department still fighting those battles is being asked to take apart a trained reserve force at the same time. Common sense says you do not break up a team that is winning, and you certainly do not do it before its replacement has been built and tested.

A civilian unit, however well-meaning, cannot arrest a rioter, stop an armed attacker or harden a parade route. Those jobs belong to sworn, trained officers who have practiced working together.

The mayor may not get the last word by himself. On the City Council, Council Member Chi Ossé's CURB Act would bar the unit from responding to First Amendment events and crowd control and would ban kettling and tear gas at such events, City & State reported. Ossé has gathered 26 sponsors, a majority of the Council, but Public Safety Committee Chair Oswald Feliz has not scheduled a hearing and has warned that a ban could be sidestepped by recreating the unit under another name. Speaker Julie Menin has not taken a direct public position, though one source told City & State she opposes the bill over concerns about how the department would handle incidents if the unit's powers were limited.

Tisch, for her part, has made clear she sees value in the unit. If Mamdani moves by executive order, New Yorkers deserve to see the details first: who answers a mass-casualty call when the Emergency Service Unit is stretched, how many trained officers stay in reserve, and what the city will do the next time a protest becomes a target.

Protecting free speech and protecting the public are not competing goals. Both are duties of a just government. New York's record-low shooting numbers suggest the city has found a working balance, and the burden is on City Hall to prove its plan would keep it.