New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has indicated he will keep Jessica Tisch as police commissioner, a move cheered by business leaders and some Democrats and criticized by parts of the left. The decision spotlights the political power surrounding the NYPD and tests how a progressive mayor will manage it.
Key facts
- Mamdani’s status and pledge: Zohran Mamdani, a Democratic socialist and state assemblymember, won the Nov. 4, 2025 mayoral election and is set to take office Jan. 1, 2026. In the campaign and immediately after, he signaled he would ask NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch to stay on; he reiterated that “everyone will follow my lead — I’ll be the mayor,” when asked how he’d reconcile differences with her. Reporting in Wired and The Nation also noted his intent to keep her, and local outlets said Tisch privately indicated she would serve in a Mamdani administration.
Who is Jessica Tisch: Tisch, a member of the Loews Corporation’s Tisch family, joined city government in 2008 in the NYPD’s intelligence division and later served as the department’s deputy commissioner for information technology, then as city CIO and sanitation commissioner. Mayor Eric Adams appointed her NYPD commissioner in November 2024, making her the second woman to lead the department.
Record and controversies: Under Tisch, city officials have touted record lows in shootings and homicides in 2025. Analysts, however, note similar declines nationwide, suggesting broader trends beyond any single city. She has also pushed a renewed focus on “quality of life” enforcement — critics liken it to broken‑windows policing — defended the NYPD’s gang database as a public‑safety tool, and criticized state criminal‑justice changes such as bail reform and Raise the Age. In early 2025, the department shared a Palestinian protester’s sealed arrest record with Homeland Security Investigations; immigrant‑rights groups called that a violation of New York’s sanctuary rules, while the NYPD said it acted in response to a federal criminal inquiry. Separately, Jewish Currents reported that a training used by NYPD personnel characterized the keffiyeh and even watermelons as antisemitic, drawing criticism from civil‑liberties advocates.
Pressure and politics: Business leaders publicly urged continuity at the NYPD. “Public safety is the number one fiscal stimulus,” Apollo Global Management co‑president Jim Zelter said on Bloomberg TV after the election. The Nation reported that some prominent Democrats privately pressed Mamdani to keep Tisch; in public, Gov. Kathy Hochul and, later, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries endorsed Mamdani and cited his commitment to public safety, with Jeffries calling the prospect of keeping Tisch “a very positive step.”
Money in the race: Members of the extended Tisch family were among major donors backing anti‑Mamdani efforts. According to campaign‑finance reporting cited by The Tufts Daily, Jonathan and Elizabeth Tisch and other family members contributed more than $1.3 million to a super PAC opposing Mamdani. Other billionaires also spent heavily against him.
Mamdani’s policing agenda: As a candidate, Mamdani pledged to create a Department of Community Safety to handle more non‑violent 911 calls, reduce NYPD overtime, and disband the Strategic Response Group. He has said he will work with police rather than defund them, a shift from 2020 social‑media posts in which he called the NYPD “racist” and “wicked” and urged defunding. He has since apologized and said his views evolved.
Context and outlook
- Tisch’s early agenda emphasized “quality of life” operations, expanded transit enforcement and technology‑driven deployments. She has argued that certain state reforms contributed to crime spikes earlier in the decade; researchers counter that crime and shootings have moved down broadly across the U.S. since 2021, complicating simple cause‑and‑effect claims.
- The balance of power: Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton long described quality‑of‑life tactics as central to development and order — he once said police would “flush” homeless people “off the street” — an outlook many in business share and many reformers oppose. That divide frames the political cross‑pressures Mamdani faces. The city’s largest police union, the PBA, declined to endorse in the mayor’s race, signaling potential friction ahead over staffing, overtime and protest policing.
What’s changed from earlier reporting
- This article removes or softens claims that were overstated or not independently substantiated. For example, rather than saying Tisch “rolled back reforms,” we note verified actions: her support for quality‑of‑life enforcement, defense of the gang database, criticism of bail and Raise the Age, and the NYPD’s information‑sharing with HSI in the Kordia case. We attribute where appropriate and distinguish between supporters’ and critics’ characterizations.