Zohran Mamdani has never been shy about where he stands on law enforcement.

The far-left New York City politician has declared his disdain for policing at every possible turn, insisting that violence is a “social construct” and treating criminals like misunderstood citizens rather than dangerous offenders.

So it should shock no one that his pick for New York City Sheriff is someone who seems to believe the same nonsense.

Mamdani tapped Edwin Raymond for the top law enforcement position in the city, and Raymond has made a career out of attacking the very system he is supposed to uphold.

Trump's Sovereign Wealth Fund: What Could It Mean For Your Money?

In multiple interviews, he has claimed that policing is “systematically racist” and compared American law enforcement to slave patrols.

It is the kind of rhetoric that plays well in faculty lounges and activist circles, but it is absurdly out of touch with the challenges facing real neighborhoods that are desperate for safety.

Raymond insists that systemic racism drives arrests in Black and Hispanic communities, blaming what he calls “enforcement quotas.”

He told one interviewer that “it’s the racism that’s interwoven in the system by the way of the enforcement quotas in Black and Hispanic communities.”

FREE Gun Law Map: Laws Don't Pause During Social Unrest

WATCH:

He went on to mock the concept of enforcing low-level crimes to prevent serious ones, saying there is “absolutely no empirical evidence” that such policing works.

Except there is a mountain of evidence proving him wrong.

A 2024 review in *Criminology & Public Policy* analyzed 56 studies and 59 tests of the so-called “Broken Windows” theory of policing.

The findings showed a 26 percent reduction in crime in areas where such policies were used.

Another study from 2001 found the approach prevented 60,000 violent crimes in New York City and cut violent crime in half.

The facts could not be clearer, yet the left insists on rewriting reality to fit a narrative that absolves criminals and blames police.

Raymond then wandered further into activist mythology by claiming American policing evolved directly from slave patrols.

He described slave patrols as militias whose “job it was to catch runaway slaves” and said those groups later “rolled over into police departments.”

This is a common talking point among anti-police activists, but like most of their claims, it collapses under scrutiny.

Modern municipal police departments actually emerged in the North during the mid-1800s, taking inspiration from London’s Metropolitan Police, not plantation overseers.

At another point, Raymond said that if asked years ago, “[he] would have said abolish.”

He explained that abolition “is probably the better answer” because, in his view, reforms have not worked.

The idea that the city’s top law enforcement figure would rather get rid of police than fix them tells you everything you need to know about how far into radical fantasy New York’s leadership has fallen.

These beliefs are not just theoretical. New York City’s soft-on-crime mindset already shows up in the courts and prosecution offices.

Prosecutor Dafna Yoran, who charged Daniel Penny with manslaughter for defending subway passengers from a violent threat, previously gave a much lighter sentence to a murderer because of something called “restorative justice.”

The killer got ten years for taking a man’s life when he should have faced decades.

This is what happens when ideology replaces justice.

The left’s idea of “abolishing” police does not mean empty prisons; it means selective enforcement.

Violent criminals get second chances and excuses while ordinary citizens who run afoul of progressive orthodoxy face ruin.

Expect Mamdani’s administration to target property owners next.

After all, what better way to redistribute wealth than to seize “unfit” landlords’ buildings in the name of “the community.”

Every socialist project needs its scapegoats, and in New York, they have found theirs.

This is what New Yorkers invited when they voted for a socialist who rejects the very concept of personal responsibility.

Mamdani views crime as a symptom of oppression rather than moral failure.

Raymond sees police as relics of slavery rather than guardians of order.

And together, their policies will ensure that law-abiding citizens suffer while criminals are rewarded.

The real victims of Mamdani’s New York will not be abstract ideas or political slogans.

They will be the families in Queens, Brooklyn, and the Bronx who just want their kids to get home safely.

They will be the business owners robbed blind while City Hall debates systemic theories instead of locking up thieves.

They will be the officers who still put their lives on the line even as their leaders sneer at them.

Every city that has pursued this kind of left-wing utopian experiment has ended the same way.

San Francisco’s streets are filled with addicts, Portland’s downtown is boarded up, and Chicago’s crime wave continues to spiral.

Now New York seems determined to add its name to the list. Mamdani’s sheriff pick is no accident.

It is the logical next step in a city that has traded common sense for ideology.

If New Yorkers wanted a lesson in the cost of progressive arrogance, they are about to get it in painful detail.

When leaders treat criminals as victims and peace officers as villains, chaos follows every time.

The Mamdani administration is making sure of it.

The opinions expressed by contributors and/or content partners are their own and do not necessarily reflect the views of Objectivist. Contact us for guidelines on submitting your own commentary.