Mamdani prepares to fulfill promise to axe NYPD unit responsible for controlling protest violence
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is reportedly preparing to announce his plan to disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group (SRG), fulfilling a long-held campaign promise that has led to mounting pressure from his base, as well as questions about how the group's duties will be replaced.
Politico reported that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, is preparing to announce plans to disband the unit, which responds to protests, civil disturbances and major events while handling counterterrorism operations.
Mamdani has said he wants to decouple the unit’s protest and counterterrorism functions, but at a March City Council budget hearing Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said discussions with the mayor concerned "the future of how we police protests generally," not disbanding the unit.
NYPD Strategic Response Group (SRG) officers monitor a crowd outside 26 Federal Plaza on Oct. 21, 2025, in New York City. (Adam Gray/Getty Images)
The NYPD says the SRG responds to citywide mobilizations, civil disorders and major events and is a "critical asset" during parades, protests and the papal visit. SRG personnel are "also deployed to areas requiring an increased police presence due to increased crime or other conditions" and "mobilizes for shootings, bank robberies, missing persons, demonstrations, or other significant incidents," according to the department.
Tisch added during the March City Council budget hearing that the SRG does not typically deal with peaceful protests, but is deployed for protests that involve criminal activity. She also noted that in 2025 the NYPD facilitated 4,255 protests and the SRG was available at 245 of them, or roughly 6%.
Sources familiar with the plan told Politico that City Hall has been contemplating putting the SRG under Mamdani's new Office of Community Safety, launched earlier this year. The sources also said Mamdani's plan could be formalized via an executive order, according to Politico.
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani speaks during a news conference at Gracie Mansion alongside NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch on Monday, March 9, 2026. (Angelina Katsanis/AP)
"I've been clear that my vision is for the disbanding of the SRG. And the reason for that vision is that the SRG were created a little more than a decade ago with an intention first of dealing with threats, terroristic threats to the city," Mamdani said during a press conference in September.
"What it has eventually become is both dealing with counterterrorism and responses to exercising First Amendment rights," the mayor continued. "I do not believe that those purposes need to be dual purposes. I believe that we should have a focus on counterterrorism that is separate from our response to the use of First Amendment — [that] continues to be a conversation I'm having with our police commissioner."
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Fox News Digital reached out to City Hall for confirmation and comment on the mayor's reported plan, but did not hear back in time for publication.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani attends a news conference at NYPD headquarters on Jan. 6, 2026, in New York City. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
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"As the Mayor has said, our administration will disband the Strategic Response Group and separate protest response from counterterrorism," spokesperson Dora Pekec told Politico. "We will have more to share soon."
Fox News Digital reached out to the NYPD for comment.
Alec Schemmel is a Politics Reporter for Fox News Digital who is originally from Charlotte, North Carolina but now resides in the Washington D.C.-Baltimore Metro Area.
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