New York City police said they found a large cardboard box containing NYPD uniforms abandoned on a roadside near Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner Delaney Kempner told the Washington Examiner that officers responded in the area of the city's 66th Precinct at approximately 8:39 p.m. on Tuesday after a call came in about the discarded uniforms.
"Upon arrival, officers observed a box containing pants, shirts, jackets, and hats," Kempner said. "The uniform items were removed to the 66 Precinct for safekeeping and the investigation remains ongoing."
Officers could be seen removing the uniforms from the overflowing box and stuffing them into plastic bags in video posted online Thursday morning.
While the location where officers found the box was unclear from the video, the New York Daily News reported it as 37th St. and Ninth Ave. in Borough Park.
The 66th Precinct includes the Brooklyn neighborhoods of Borough Park, Midwood, and Kensington. According to the NYPD, there are more than 300 religious institutions in the precinct, the majority of which are Hasidic and Orthodox Jewish.
The box was discovered two days before New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani was sworn into office. Brooklyn was crucial to Mamdani's win in November, as he received 57% of the borough's vote.
The strange find prompted intense speculation on social media, with one X user suggesting that the dumped items could be a harbinger of life in the not-too-distant future under the city's new democratic socialist mayor.
"We tried to warn you, NYC," Tosca Austen wrote. "Discarded uniforms on the side of the road, a sign of things to come under. .@ZohranKMamdani!?"
Another X commentator, Wolf Of The West, asked, "Is the police department sending a message?"
A third pointed out that "[t]his was not smart to do" and noted that there were "other ways" to make a political statement.
"[T]hese uniforms could be used in future attacks on the city," Derick Brough said. "They [police] could have articulated their disgust with mayoral selection in other ways."
Anyone with information on the abandoned uniforms is asked to call the NYPD Crime Stoppers at (800) 577-TIPS to make an anonymous report.
Nicole Weatherholtz ✉
Nicole Weatherholtz, a Newsmax general assignment reporter covers news, politics, and culture. She is a National Newspaper Association award-winning journalist.
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