Mamdani prepares to fulfil 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.

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.

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. According to the department, SRG personnel are also deployed to areas requiring an increased police presence due to increased crime or other conditions, and it mobilizes for shootings, bank robberies, missing persons, demonstrations, or other significant incidents.

Tisch added during the March 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 percent.

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.

'I've been clear that my vision is for the disbanding of the SRG,' Mamdani said during a press conference in September. He said the SRG was created a little more than a decade ago with an intention first of dealing with terroristic threats to the city, but had eventually become both dealing with counterterrorism and responses to exercising First Amendment rights, and that he did not believe those purposes need to be dual purposes.

'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 City Hall for confirmation and comment on the mayor's reported plan, but did not hear back in time for publication. It also reached out to the NYPD for comment.