An NYPD representative said that the department responded to over 240,000 domestic violence calls in 2024 alone, with 113 officers injured in the process.

Domestic violence survivors who spoke with the Washington Free Beacon said New York Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani’s belief that police should not respond to incidents of domestic violence has the potential to cost women their lives.

Michelle Esquenazi, a bail bondswoman and founder of the Victims’ Rights Reform Council advocacy group, told the Free Beacon that she remembered vividly the day in 1993 when her then-husband attacked her and held their two-year-old child over a banister.

“I was a young girl with two little ones—three and two—and one in my belly, and I had to call 911, and the police came,” she said. “When [the New York Police Department] showed up that day, they were my saviors. They saved my life. They saved my children’s lives.”

As the Free Beacon reported last week, Mamdani said during a 2020 podcast appearance that he does not believe sending police is the appropriate response to incidents of domestic violence.

“If somebody is jaywalking, if somebody is surviving, going through domestic violence—there are so many different, different situations that would be far better handled by people trained to deal with those specific situations, as opposed to an individual with a gun,” he contended.

Bronx resident and community activist Lattina Brown (who has worked with Jim Walden, an independent candidate for New York mayor) told the Free Beacon that, like Esquenazi, she is a survivor of domestic violence who the New York Police Department saved from a dangerous situation.

“I was dating, in a relationship, with somebody who was quite abusive to me,” Brown said. “And you know, me being young, I didn’t understand what domestic violence was. It was physical.”

Brown told the Free Beacon that the NYPD is one of the reasons she is still here today.

“When I finally took that leap of faith to contact the NYPD, I must say that they were very responsive,” she said. “They were very helpful. I did not feel scared. I felt safe. They helped de-escalate the problem. They got me the resources that I needed, and to be honest with you, they helped save my life.”

Brown told the Free Beacon that, should Mamdani win and make good on his proposal, New York City will be a much more dangerous place.

Edited Article Originally Published By Jon Levine, The Washington Free Beacon  PHOTO: Use according to Section 27 A