New Yorkers deserve positive reform, not a social experiment that hollowed‑out public safety. Watching seasoned officers — the ones with 20, 25, even 30 years on the job walk out the door is not a spreadsheet problem. It’s a slow-motion brain drain. Those veterans carry judgment born of hard calls, quiet de‑escalation skills, and the on‑the-ground knowledge that keeps both neighborhoods and rookie officers safer.
Worse, the administration’s optics are alarming. Putting activists who openly advocate abolishing the police on the transition team signals to rank‑and‑file cops that their mission is suspect and their future uncertain. Combine that with talk of shrinking the force and you have a morale crisis that precedes and predicts a public‑safety crisis. Demoralized officers make fewer proactive stops, take fewer community‑building risks, and face more burnout and danger working understaffed shifts. The first people to feel the fallout will be communities already living on the margins; eventually the insecurity spreads to every neighborhood.
There’s another corrosive element: deliberate provocation designed to elicit an arrest or a lawsuit. Where people impede, grab, or otherwise physically interfere with officers trying to do their jobs, there must be swift consequences both criminal and civil. I’m not calling for immunity from accountability; I’m calling for rules that protect officers from being assaulted or tripped into an incident that ruins a career. A commonsense “5‑foot rule” — making it unlawful to physically obstruct or seize an officer while they are on duty, with graduated fines and criminal penalties should be on the table. Pair that with stricter penalties for false complaints and sanctions on lawyers who file frivolous suits, and you begin to restore balance.
Reform that alienates experienced officers and elevates abolitionist symbolism without offering a coherent public‑safety plan is reckless. If Mayor Mamdani truly wants change, start by stabilizing the workforce: keep veterans in mentoring roles, invest in training and fair pay, and build a transition team that mixes bold reformers with those who actually keep us safe. Otherwise, New Yorkers, officers and civilians alike — will pay the price.
