NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani says he wants to keep NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch

New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani said Wednesday that he intended to speak with NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch about  continuing in her role, but the 44-year-old leader of the nation’s largest police force was keeping quiet about her intentions.

A Tisch spokesman said Wednesday the police commissioner previously noted she wouldn’t comment on her plans. She has four years left on her term.

"Nobody knows at the moment, it is really dependent on what Jessica Tisch is going to do," former NYPD Commissioner William Bratton told Newsday.

Since being appointed to the post last November by Mayor Eric Adams, Tisch has engineered a 4.4% drop in serious crime compared with the same period in 2024, with shootings and homicides hitting historic lows for the modern era and subway felonies below where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic year of 2020.

Friction emerged when Mamdani said on the campaign trail he wanted to cut back on certain law enforcement tactics, such as the gang database and the Strategic Response Group — a special unit — things Tisch strongly supports. He also made some remarks in which he called NYPD members racists and homophobic, statements for which he apologized later in the campaign.

"I think the new mayor-elect would benefit from having a fair amount of time with as many officers as possible so he can disavow his past statements," said Richard Aborn, president of the nonprofit New York Citizens Crime Commission. "He needs police officers on his side."

It is unclear what Mamdani would do to keep the authorized strength of the NYPD at around 35,000. The city has a potential budget shortfall in fiscal 2026 of up to $8 billion, according to the nonpartisan Citizens Budget Commission. That could impact hiring and any other programs Mamdani wants to start.

Police Benevolent Association president Patrick Hendry, the union representing thousands of police officers, said officers are overworked.

"If Mayor-Elect Mamdani is serious about protecting this city, he must work with us to address the NYPD’s historic staffing crisis. The mass exodus of police officers didn’t begin last night. It has been going on for years, and the time to fix it is now," Hendry said in a statement Wednesday.

More officers, Aborn said, "would relieve a lot of pressure on officers in uniform now, and have an impact on retention."

Asked if he thought Tisch would stay as the city's top cop, Scott Munro, head of the Detectives' Endowment Association said: "I think she will stay if he lets her run the department."

According to the PBA, the NYPD has lost 3,668 officers in the last 12 months through retirements and resignations. With current uniformed strength of about 34,000, the NYPD is just treading water even with new hires, the PBA said. The NYPD had 40,000 officers in 2000.

Mamdani supported the idea of having the Civilian Complaint Review Board have final authority over disciplinary cases involving officers. Since under the city charter and state law, the police commissioner has final control over police discipline, any such change would require legislation in Albany, something which has stalled in recent years.

Bratton  believes it would be a mistake for Mamdani to try and dissolve the SRG unit and try to make the CCRB more powerful.

Munro said that if the SRG were disbanded, more detectives would find themselves policing protests and not working on solving criminal cases.

After Mamdani’ s election victory, Munro said the Detectives' Endowment Association board met and decided to "buckle down" and see what the new administration brings.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.