New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced that he has chosen NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to continue her role leading the nation’s largest police department.
As a candidate, Mamdani promised to keep Tisch, who was appointed commissioner by Mayor Eric Adams, in office.
Promising to keep Tisch as police commissioner could be seen as a way to calm voters’ concerns that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, would not take crime seriously, and his past statements to defund the police.
In a statement, he applauded Tisch for “cracking down on corruption at the highest levels of the police department, reducing crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers against authoritarianism.”
“Together, we will create a city where rank-and-file police officers and the communities they serve are safe, represented, and proud to call New York home,” Mamdani said in the statement.
In an internal email to the NYPD, Tisch said that being commissioner is “the greatest privilege of my life and I am proud to continue doing it.”
However, she recognized the differences that exist between her and the elected mayor. During the election campaign, Mamdani promised to maintain the NYPD’s staff but move some of its responsibilities to a civilian-run agency.
“Now, do the mayor-elect and I agree on everything? No, we don’t,” he wrote. “But in speaking with him, it is clear that we share broad and crucial priorities: the importance of public safety, the need to continue reducing crime and the need to maintain stability and order throughout the department.”
