Mamdani is preparing to disband the NYPD unit that handles violent protests and riots

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is preparing to announce a plan to disband the NYPD's Strategic Response Group (SRG), Politico reported, according to Fox News Digital. The unit responds to protests, civil disorder and major events, and also handles counterterrorism.

"As the Mayor has said, our administration will disband the Strategic Response Group and separate protest response from counterterrorism," Mamdani spokesperson Dora Pekec told Politico. "We will have more to share soon."

Sources told Politico that City Hall has looked at moving the SRG under Mamdani's new Office of Community Safety, and that the plan could come by executive order.

The NYPD calls the SRG a "critical asset" for parades, protests and the papal visit, and says it also responds to shootings, bank robberies and missing-person cases. Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch told the City Council in March that the unit does not usually handle peaceful protests, only ones involving crime. She said the NYPD handled 4,255 protests in 2025 and the SRG was at 245 of them, about 6%.

Mamdani said in September that the SRG was created to deal with terror threats and that protest response and counterterrorism should not be "dual purposes." Fox News Digital said City Hall and the NYPD did not respond in time for publication.