Suffolk's former top cop: Support for Zohran Mamdani's police ideas but no endorsement

Former Suffolk County Police Department Commissioner Rodney Harrison has endorsed New York Assemblyman Zohran Mamdani’s approach to policing. But that doesn’t mean Harrison has endorsed the Democratic Party’s nominee for New York City mayor.

Harrison, the NYPD’s former chief of department, who spent 30 years with the agency before he served as Suffolk police commissioner from December 2021 to December 2023, said he recently spoke with Mamdani and liked what he heard.

"I am endorsing the philosophy," Harrison said. "I am not sure if I am qualified to endorse anybody in an electoral race. I'd have to look at all of the candidates. I like the philosophy but that doesn’t mean I am endorsing a candidate."

Mamdani has proposed a "Department of Community Safety" that would send mental health professionals to respond to calls involving emotionally disturbed but nonviolent people. The new agency would invest in citywide mental health programs and send outreach workers to subway stations and neighborhoods to assist those with mental health challenges. Mamdani has also proposed significant increases for gun violence prevention and hate violence prevention.

"Police have a critical role to play," the Mamdani campaign says on its website. "But right now, we’re relying on them to deal with the failures of our social safety net — which prevents them from doing their actual jobs. Through this new city agency and the whole-of-government approach, community safety will be prioritized like never before in NYC."

Harrison said he backs that approach, although not necessarily the candidate. Those mental health professionals would free up the NYPD’s 36,000 officers to pursue other crimes, he said.

The key to that approach, Harrison said, would be dispatchers. They would have to get accurate information in order to send the right people to a call. It is an approach, he said, that has worked in other cities.

Harrison helped create the task force that led to the arrest of Gilgo Beach serial murder suspect Rex Heuermann.

He implemented the department’s 1,000-page reform plan, which included a rollout of a departmentwide body camera program. Community leaders applauded Harrison for forging strong relationships with them during his stint as Suffolk’s top cop.