New York 3 min read

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to Stay in Post Under Mamdani

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Editors Desk Source: WSJ:

Published 1 hr ago

New York Police Department Commissioner Jessica Tisch Michael / PHOTO: Brochstein/Zuma Press

City’s top cop faces difficult path overseeing department wary of newly elected mayor’s views on policing

New York Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Wednesday she would remain in her post under Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, calming business leaders worried that her exit would derail New York’s push to cut crime.

Mamdani, a Democratic socialist who has made past comments about defunding the police, had pressed Tisch to stay as commissioner, in part as an olive branch to Wall Street and real-estate executives.

The mayor-elect and Tisch met last week to discuss the role. But until now she had remained silent about her intentions. Former and current NYPD officials said working under Mamdani poses challenges for Tisch, who will have to manage a police force deeply distrustful of her new boss.

“I’m ready to serve with honor as his police commissioner,” Tisch said in a statement released by Mamdani’s transition team. She and the mayor-elect share broad goals on lowering crime, rooting out corruption, and giving police officers the tools and support they need, she added.

Tisch was more candid in an internal department memo she sent to rank-and-file NYPD officers Wednesday morning.

“Do the Mayor-elect and I agree on everything? No, we don’t,” she wrote. “But in speaking with him, it’s clear that we share broad and crucial priorities.”

Mayor Eric Adams appointed Tisch, a longtime civil servant, as commissioner in November 2024 to steady a department that had been rocked by scandals and resignations. Since then, crime has fallen to record lows under her leadership. In the first 10 months of the year, the city has had the fewest shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history, according to NYPD records.

William Bratton, who served as NYPD commissioner under former mayors Bill de Blasio and Rudy Giuliani, said in an interview this week that Tisch faces a tough job working for a mayor who has been publicly critical of some of the strategies and systems she has used successfully to lower crime.

“If it were me, I would not continue in the position,” said Bratton, whom Tisch has previously described as a mentor.

Mamdani, who focused his campaign on making the city affordable, has shared some of his plans for the NYPD, which includes eliminating a unit of the police department that responds to protests. He intends to create a new department of mental-health specialists who respond to certain 911 calls. The mayor-elect also wants to take away some disciplinary powers from the commissioner and transfer them to a civilian oversight board.

Mamdani said Wednesday that he admired Tisch for cracking down on corruption in the upper echelons of the police department, lowering crime and “standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism.”

During his mayoral campaign, he said his past comments about defunding the NYPD were out of step with his views on policing today.

Scott Munro, the president of the city’s detectives union, said his members were heartened to hear Tisch would remain in the job. He said in an interview this week that hiring additional officers should be a priority.

“I don’t think it’s an easy post to take,” Munro said of being Mamdani’s commissioner.

Write to James Fanelli at james.fanelli@wsj.com