New York county police to install additional surveillance, anticipating Mayor-elect Mamdani’s ‘radical policies’

Bruce Blakeman, the executive of Nassau County, New York, ordered the suburban Long Island county’s police department this week to install extra surveillance technology — including facial recognition cameras and license plate readers — at the New York City border because of Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s “radical policies.”

In an interview on Monday with Fox News, Blakeman, a Republican who was re-elected this month, said he will take extra precautions to preserve law and order in Nassau County in light of Mamdani’s socialist politics. Mamdani, 34, who this month won the New York City mayor’s race by 9 percentage points over former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, is famously a proud member of the Democratic Socialists of America.

“I’ve directed the Nassau County Police Department to install advanced cameras and security technology along the border with New York City,” Blakeman told Fox News. “With the incoming mayor’s radical policies, we’re taking proactive steps to protect our residents and maintain law and order. This new technology will enhance our ability to read license plates, improve video monitoring and strengthen our overall security posture. Nassau County will always take every measure necessary to keep our communities safe.”

(Blakeman could not be reached for comment. The Nassau County Police Department declined to comment.)

Nassau County is home to roughly 1.3 million residents, with roughly 100,000 more registered Democrats than Republicans, according to the New York State Board of Elections. Blakeman, who won his race for county executive by almost 12 percentage points, claimed his victory was due to his stance on increasing public safety and support from President Donald Trump.

Trump, who also disparaged Mamdani, met with the mayor-elect last Friday, in what both called a “productive meeting.”

“New York State was an area that was safe, and I think basically that’s what the people are craving. I supported the president, and I continue to support the president,” Blakeman told Fox News.

Though Mamdani has walked back comments calling the police racist and a public safety threat, he has stood by a proposal to hire more mental-health workers to work alongside law enforcement. Some of his opponents, including Blakeman and Cuomo, have insisted that Mamdani’s administration will cause crime to rise.

During the mayoral campaign, Cuomo, who ran as an independent, used artificial intelligence to alter an image, for an unused campaign flyer, that darkened Mamdani’s beard and claimed his opponent “rejected the NYPD.” Mamdani, a Uganda-born Muslim of Indian descent, called the image manipulation “Islamophobic.”