New York City Hall has found itself cleaning up an embarrassing security controversy after the NYPD contradicted an earlier claim that officers would accompany Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife on a personal trip to Syria and Lebanon.
Rama Duwaji, Mamdani’s wife, reportedly plans to visit relatives in the two countries in September. There is just one rather important complication: both Syria and Lebanon are under Level 4 “Do Not Travel” advisories from the U.S. State Department.
City Hall initially claimed Duwaji’s NYPD security detail would accompany her and suggested the arrangement had actually been recommended by the department.
“Upon the strong recommendation of the NYPD, the first lady’s security detail will be joining her when she travels to visit family in Syria and Lebanon,” Mamdani spokeswoman Dora Pekec reportedly said.
Then the NYPD publicly contradicted that account.
“The NYPD does not send officers to countries with level 4 travel advisories for discretionary reasons such as personal travel,” an NYPD spokesperson told Fox News.
Well, that is quite a “miscommunication.”
When PIX11 questioned Mamdani about the conflicting statements Tuesday, the mayor blamed the episode on a staff miscommunication. But the dispute raised a larger question about why City Hall initially suggested New York police officers would be sent into countries the federal government specifically advises Americans not to visit.
NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association President Scott Munro was not amused by the possibility.
“Our detectives put themselves in harm’s way every day protecting New Yorkers,” Munro said. “The DEA would never remain silent if our members were asked to travel to a dangerous, off-limits foreign country for anything other than a legitimate law-enforcement or intelligence operation.”
“Our detectives are needed here in New York City protecting residents and fighting crime,” he added.
That should not be a particularly controversial position.
New York taxpayers fund police officers to protect New Yorkers and enforce the law. Sending detectives into high-risk foreign countries for a politician’s family vacation would naturally raise questions about officer safety, department resources and whether taxpayers should shoulder the risks associated with discretionary international travel.
The political irony is especially difficult to ignore because Mamdani has a long record of attacking the very police department now responsible for protecting him and his family.
During the unrest of 2020, Mamdani openly called for defunding the NYPD.
“There is no negotiating with an institution this wicked & corrupt. Defund it. Dismantle it. End the cycle of violence,” Mamdani wrote about the department.
In another post, he declared, “We don’t need an investigation to know that the NYPD is racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety,” before adding, “What we need is to #DefundTheNYPD.”
He also wrote, “Queer liberation means defund the police.”
Politics certainly has a sense of humor. It is considerably easier to call police officers “wicked & corrupt” when you are campaigning as an activist than when those same officers are responsible for keeping your family safe.
None of this means Duwaji should be denied reasonable security arrangements. As the mayor’s wife, there can be legitimate concerns about her safety. But there is an enormous difference between protection in New York City and asking NYPD personnel to enter countries carrying the State Department’s highest travel warning for a private family visit.
According to the NYPD, that overseas deployment is not happening.
City Hall can call the conflicting statements a miscommunication, but the episode demonstrates why government officials should have their facts straight before publicly claiming the police department recommended something as extraordinary as sending New York officers into Level 4 countries.
The NYPD has enough dangerous work waiting at home.
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