NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani to keep Jessica Tisch on as police commissioner

Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani announced that he has chosen New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to continue in her role leading the largest police department in the nation.

As a candidate, Mamdani vowed to keep Tisch — who was appointed commissioner by Mayor Eric Adams — in the role.

Pledging to keep Tisch on as police commissioner could be seen as a way to assuage voters' concerns that Mamdani, a democratic socialist, would not take crime as a serious issue, and over his past statements to defund the police.

In a statement, he applauded Tisch for "cracking down on corruption in the upper echelons of the police department, driving down crime in New York City, and standing up for New Yorkers in the face of authoritarianism."

"Together, we will deliver a city where rank-and-file police officers and the communities they serve alike are safe, represented, and proud to call New York their home," Mamdani said in the statement.

In an internal email to the NYPD, Tisch said that being commissioner is "greatest privilege of my life, and I am proud to continue doing it."

She also acknowledged that she and Mamdani have their differences.

On the campaign trail, Mamdani vowed to maintain the NYPD’s head count, but shift some of its responsibilities to a civilian-led agency. He also said he had spoken with police officers and apologized for past anti-police social media posts.

Tisch was appointed commissioner in 2024 by Adams, who is a former police officer.

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"Now, 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: the importance of public safety, the need to continue driving down crime, and the need to maintain stability and order across the department."

She added that she is "confident that I can continue to lead this department honorably going forward" under a Mayor Mamdani, and that the department can "trust that I will be a fierce advocate" for them.

Tisch is an 18-year veteran of public service.

She began her career in public service in 2008, working in the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau. Prior to leading the NYPD, she led the city's Sanitation Department, and the Information Technology and Telecommunications Department.

Her family, led by her father's fortune as the CEO of Loews Corp., has donated unprecedented amounts of money to top New York City establishments, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York University and the Mount Sinai Health System.

New York City recorded 377 homicides in 2024, its lowest number of killings since 2020, according to data released from the NYPD in January. However, the city recorded its highest number of felony assaults — 29,417 attacks that involved or threatened serious injury — in at least 24 years.