Mayor Mamdani's NYPD Use-of-Force Review Criticized as Unwarranted

Mayor Zohran Mamdani recently ordered the New York Police Department to conduct a comprehensive review of its use-of-force policies and practices, a move criticized as being based on a flawed premise. Despite Mamdani's assertion that "every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary," data from the first six months of 2026 indicates that the NYPD's use of force, particularly deadly force, is minimal.

During this period, NYPD officers responded to over 3.35 million 911 calls, with more than 100,000 involving persons in crisis or weapons. Officers made 24,343 arrests of individuals carrying weapons as part of over 141,000 total arrests. In contrast, officers discharged their firearms only 23 times. This suggests that the NYPD used deadly force in no more than 0.02% of arrests, and any form of force in approximately 4.2% of arrests.

Furthermore, nearly 2,500 officers sustained injuries during use-of-force incidents in the first half of 2026, a number nearly matching the approximately 2,600 subjects injured in those same encounters. The analysis suggests that the department is already restrained, especially concerning deadly force.

Mamdani's announcement also included additional funding for police oversight and five new "reforms," aiming to underscore accountability as a central value of his administration. These reforms include increased funding for the NYPD's inspector general and measures to prevent officers with pending disciplinary charges from being rehired within New York state. However, the assertion that the NYPD has an accountability issue is challenged by the presented data.

The effectiveness of new reforms in reducing the use of deadly force is also questioned. Between 2017 and 2024, the department recorded an average of 50 firearm discharges annually. This stability in numbers is notable given the numerous reforms implemented since 2020, following the death of George Floyd. These reforms included state-level actions such as an executive order requiring policing reform plans, a ban on chokeholds, stricter reporting requirements, a new office to investigate misconduct, and the attorney general's appointment as an independent prosecutor in cases of unarmed civilian deaths. Additionally, New York City passed legislation criminalizing neck and diaphragm compression and allowed civil suits against officers by sidestepping qualified immunity.

Despite these reforms and the widespread adoption of body cameras by the NYPD beginning in 2017, the number of reported force incidents by the NYPD reportedly increased annually between 2020 and 2024. The number of NYPD members injured by subjects also rose during this period. Critics argue that these reforms have negatively impacted officer morale and potentially emboldened suspects to resist arrest. The author posits that police use of force is more dependent on the choices made by individuals being arrested than on reform proposals advocated by critics.