By Thomas Tracy
New York Daily News
NEW YORK — Seven cop cars used by the NYPD’s controversial Strategic Response Group — the heavily-armed police task force Mayor Mamdani has vowed to disband — were had their tires slashed while parked in Brooklyn, police said Wednesday.
The vandalism was discovered outside a Strategic Response Group unit’s headquarters on Coney Island Ave. near Caton Ave. in Kensington about 4:30 p.m. Monday, police said.
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Nine tires on seven marked vehicles were slashed or punctured, police said. The damage was found as Monday’s historic blizzard that brought some 20 inches of snow to the city was winding down.
Cops are scouring the area looking for surveillance footage that could help them identify the vandal.
During his campaign for mayor, Mamdani promised to disband the Strategic Response Group, which is routinely called in to handle large protests and has been accused of excessive force at rallies.
After becoming mayor, he renewed his vow to rid the city of these teams.
“We need to disband the SRG, and I’m currently in conversations with the police commissioner about the ways in which we can do so that are operational,” Mamdani told reporters in late January.
The squad, which was created by former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton in 2015 to respond to large-scale emergencies that local precinct cops couldn’t handle.
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