New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposed canceling plans to hire 5,000 additional police officers in his first preliminary budget. Before he left office, former Mayor Eric Adams proposed that the New York Police Department (NYPD) hire 5,000 more officers. “Mamdani moved to cancel all orders signed by Adams following his Sept. 26, 2024, indictment,” Fox News stated. Among the canceled orders was the plan to hire additional officers. BREAKING: NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani proposes SLASHING the NYPD budget by $22 MILLION (from $6.4B) and CANCELING 5,000 planned new officer hires from Eric Adams' plan! This scraps the push to grow NYPD to ~40,000 officers, capping it at around 35,000 instead—amid a "historic… pic.twitter.com/QhpwmNTyAs — Thomas Kellogg (@ThomasKelloggNY) February 18, 2026 Fox News explained further: Under Adams’ plan, the NYPD was set to add 300 officers in July 2026, growing to 2,500 in July 2027 and eventually increasing to 5,000 additional officers annually in July 2028. The Adams plan allowed the NYPD to deploy approximately 40,000 officers to the streets, while Mamdani’s plan caps the number closer to its current level of around 35,000. Additionally, in the preliminary FY 2027 budget, it notes the importance of “significantly reducing current vacancies,” which could include reductions in funding for the NYPD based on unfilled positions. The Gothamist, a New York-based publication, noted that Mamdani’s budget proposes a $22 million decrease in the NYPD’s $6.4 billion budget next year. On Tuesday, Mamdani told reporters that New York City was in a budget crisis but said that it was something the city “can and will overcome.” Mamdani said during the Tuesday news conference that his administration had “inherited a historic budget gap” and while it had managed to lower the deficit from $12 billion to $5.4 billion, there was still a “significant chasm.” “I know that for those who have watched budget after budget, it is tempting to assume that we are engaging in the same dance as our predecessors. Let me assure you, nothing about this is typical. That’s why our solutions won’t be either,” Mamdani said. Mamdani has made numerous tax proposals in response to the budget crisis. One option he pushed was raising taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations. Alternatively, he proposed raising property taxes by 9.5% as a last resort. Watch below: Mayor Zohran Mamdani has declared that property taxes will require a 9.5% hike across NYC to make up for Gov. Kathy Hochul's refusal to hike taxes on NY's wealthy. https://t.co/Pm5tpxqBZJ pic.twitter.com/f5JJdM4CqN — New York Post (@nypost) February 17, 2026 Gothamist has more: Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said the NYPD’s budget has grown while the number of police officers has shrunk. “The bottom line is that the city always finds the money for the priorities it chooses,” he said. “Public safety must be a priority.” The preliminary budget also sets aside $31 million for NYPD security costs related to the 2026 FIFA World Cup; $94 million for the Domain Awareness System, which powers the department’s network of surveillance cameras and drones; $54 million for information technology maintenance; and $44 million to replace aging emergency response vehicles. Beyond the NYPD, the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice budget would rise from $798 million to $810 million next year, driven in part by roughly $26 million in annual spending to prevent hate crimes. The budget of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates misconduct allegations against NYPD officers, would remain roughly flat at about $29 million. District attorney budgets would decline next year, largely because of a drop in state and federal funding, even as the city increases its own contribution.