NEW YORK, November 13, 2025 – A radical, $1.1 billion plan to replace NYPD officers with social workers and mental health experts is being championed by the "right-hand" advisor to New York's newly-elected Mayor, Zohran Mamdani. The proposal, authored by Ivy League-educated socialist Elle Bisgaard-Church, is sparking fierce warnings that the administration is prioritizing a dangerous ideology over public safety.
The controversial plan, first reported by Fox News, was drafted during Mamdani's campaign and is now set to be a cornerstone of his new administration.
The "Department of Community Safety"
At the heart of the proposal is the creation of a new "Department of Community Safety" (DCS). This agency, with a $1.1 billion budget siphoned directly from NYPD funding, would take over a vast swath of 911 calls, including:
Mental health crises in subway stations
Homelessness complaints
Minor disputes and noise complaints
Bisgaard-Church, a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) from California, has served as Mamdani's chief advisor since his days as a New York State Assemblyman. She has now been tapped as his Chief Advisor at City Hall, tasked with implementing this public safety overhaul.
The plan, which Bisgaard-Church's team developed in consultation with mental health experts and even former NYPD Chief Rodney Harrison, is being sold as a "humane" alternative to traditional policing.
"Defund the Police" Ideology Meets Private Security
The move comes as no surprise to critics. Mayor-elect Mamdani, who won the election on November 4, is a prominent democratic-socialist who has built his political career on calls to "dismantle the NYPD" and "defund the police," as reported by Breitbart News.
However, the administration is already facing sharp accusations of hypocrisy.
While campaigning to eliminate police protection for the public, Mamdani's own campaign spent tens of thousands of dollars on private security for himself. Campaign finance records obtained by Fox News show his campaign made multiple payments of $8,000 to $13,000 per month during June and July 2025 to a private firm, Advanced Security & Investigations.
Despite his personal use of armed security, Mamdani reiterated just last month that "mental health professionals" should be the "first responders on the scene," not police.
A "Dangerous Experiment"
Security experts and city residents are sounding the alarm, calling the plan a "dangerous experiment that threatens public safety" in a city already grappling with high crime.
One former NYPD official slammed the proposal, calling it a "recipe for disaster."
"This is the formula for a catastrophe," the official told City Journal. "When a person has a knife in the subway station, you cannot send a social worker to replace a cop."
Police unions have expressed deep concern, warning that the plan will eviscerate officer morale and cripple the city's ability to respond to emergencies.
While Mamdani insists his plan is a "more humane vision for community safety" that will make New York a "national model for social justice," urban security analysts are bracing for impact. They warn that the mayor-elect's socialist idealism may turn New York City into the next "failed experiment" of soft-on-crime, "defund the police" policies.