Tisch remains NYPD commissioner under Mamdani administration
Jessica Tisch will remain NYPD Commissioner under incoming New York City Mayor Zoran Mamdani.
Fox – 5 New York
Jessica Tisch will remain the NYPD’s top cop, Mayor-elect Zoran Mamdani announced on Wednesday, November 19th.
Mr. Tisch, the department’s 48th Secretary, was appointed Secretary in November 2024 by Mayor Eric Adams.
“As the 48th Commissioner of the New York City Police Department, Commissioner Tisch has led an emphasis on accountability and transparency across the department, rooting out corruption in the NYPD’s upper echelons and achieving historic declines in violent crime,” Mamdani, the 34-year-old current state representative from Queens, said in a statement.
The move comes as Mamdani continues to appoint transition leaders “to usher in a new era for New York City,” his office said.
“Thanks to the men and women of the NYPD, the strategies we deployed this year have resulted in historic declines in crime,” Tisch said in a press release. “I have spoken several times with Mayor-elect Mamdani, and I am ready and honored to serve as his police chief, because he and I share many of New York City’s public safety goals: reducing crime, making our communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our police officers the tools, support, and resources they need to do their noble job.”
The newly elected mayor praised Tisch’s accomplishments, including:
- Since the beginning of the year, homicides across the city have decreased by nearly 20%.
- Tens of thousands of guns have been removed from the streets.
- The first 10 months of this year had the “lowest number of shootings and shooting victims in recorded history.”
- The four safest months for city traffic in the past 15 years (July, August, September and October). This represents a record for underground safety outside of the year of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.
Who is Jessica Tisch?
Mr. Tisch’s previous City roles include Commissioner of the New York City Department of Health (2022-2024) and Commissioner of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Communications (2019-2022).
“I look forward to working with Commissioner Jessica Tisch to bring true public safety to New York City. I have admired her work in cracking down on corruption in the police ranks, curbing crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism,” Mamdani said.
Tish continues to do “great work”
The Adams administration, which had a high turnover of police chiefs, issued a statement congratulating Tisch after the announcement.
“Thanks to the policies we introduced nearly four years ago and the tireless efforts of the brave men and women of the NYPD, crime across the city has declined for eight consecutive quarters and we have removed more than 24,000 illegal guns from our streets,” Adams said.
Adams called Tisch a “star” of the Sanitation Department and praised her work at the NYPD.
“By choosing to retain her as Police Chief, Mayor-elect Mamdani is recognizing that our commitment to public safety is correct and will continue to do so in the future. We all want a safer city, and keeping Chief Tisch in place and supporting our officers every day with the policies we put in place is exactly how we will make that happen.”
In a post on X on Wednesday, Nov. 19, New York Governor Kathy Hochul called Tisch a “steadfast partner in keeping crime at historic lows and improving public safety across the city.”
“I am pleased that she will continue her work under Mayor-elect @ZohranKMamdani,” the governor wrote.
Contributed by: Eduardo Cuevas, USA TOD
Natalie Neisa Alland is a senior reporter at USA TODAY. Contact her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her at X @nataliealund
