At the funeral of Didarul Islam, a police officer who was slain on Monday in Midtown Manhattan, Mayor Eric Adams on Thursday praised the actions of the Police Department’s Strategic Response Group, which his opponent in the mayor’s race, Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani, has vowed to disband.
“I want to say thank you to the men and women of the New York City Police Department in general, but specifically to the men and women of S.R.G.,” Mr. Adams said. “They entered the building while the shooter was still alive, and they conducted a floor-by-floor search. They wanted to ensure that everyone in that building would have come out safely.”
That choice may carry an implicit political message. Mr. Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor, has said he would eliminate the Strategic Response Group, because of what he said was their heavy-handed policing of protests. Mr. Adams, a Democrat, opted out of the Democratic primary and is running for re-election as an independent.
“I will disband the S.R.G., which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers,” Mr. Mamdani said on social media in December.
On Wednesday, Mr. Mamdani held that position during a news conference with a union representing a security guard, Aland Etienne, who was also killed in Monday’s shooting. He said that while he admired the department’s response to the mass shooting, he took issue with its policing of protests.
“What we saw on Monday was an example of how we would want a response to look like to an emergency,” he said. “What we also see, however, in this city is the treatment of protest as if it requires the same.”
The Strategic Response Group “responds to citywide mobilizations, civil disorders, and major events with highly trained personnel and specialized equipment,” according to the Police Department website.
The unit drew scrutiny following the Police Department’s response to the racial justice protests of 2020, during which officers charged at protesters, hit them with batons and boxed them in using a tactic known as “kettling.” Following lawsuits filed by, among others, New York Attorney General Letitia James, the N.Y.P.D. agreed to limit its use of the S.R.G. to respond to protests.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Mamdani said on Thursday that he continues to support disbanding the unit and replacing it with a different type of emergency response team.
Dana Rubinstein covers New York City politics and government for The Times.
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