New York City's new top cop: Jessica Tisch sworn in as NYPD commissioner
NEW YORK (WABC) -- The NYPD has a new boss who will lead the nation's largest police force while aiming to drive down crime.
Jessica Tisch, 43, was sworn in as the new police commissioner on Monday -- and she is the fourth under the Adams administration.
Tisch took the oath, administered by NYC Mayor Eric Adams, with her children at her side and with her right hand placed on her grandmother's Bible.
She delivered remarks immediately after becoming the 48th leader of the NYPD, and the second woman in the department's history to lead the force.
"My great hope is that together we will return this noble undertaking, this job of high moral purpose, to a time and a place where you want your grandchildren, your nieces, your nephews to follow in your footsteps and become police officers," she said to the audience of law enforcement and other city officials gathered at 1 Police Plaza for the ceremony.
Tisch did not specify any policy direction for her tenure, but it is widely expected that she will continue to introduce innovative technology in crime fighting.
"The police exist to eliminate fear and disorder, your cops, like generations before them, nobly put their lives on the line each and every time they put on that uniform to protect you and your families and they do a damn good job of it," she said. "We will continue to do that most important foundational work to make you are safe, to make you feel safe and to improve your quality of life across the city."
Tisch is a longtime public servant and no stranger to city government. She most recently led the New York City Department of Sanitation.
Tisch is the Harvard-educated scion of a wealthy New York family, has worked for the city for 16 years, holding leadership roles in several agencies. As sanitation commissioner, she became TikTok famous when she declared in 2022, "The rats don't run the city, we do."
Her first job in city government was in the NYPD's counterterrorism bureau. As planning and policy director, she helped shape post-9/11 security infrastructure, deploying mobile radiation detectors and helping develop a digital information-sharing tool with instant access to surveillance cameras and license-plate readers.
As deputy commissioner for information technology, she spearheaded use of body-worn cameras and smartphones, transformed 911 dispatching, introduced a gunshot-detection system and worked with the city's transit agency to make police radios work in the subway.
Tisch will now be at the helm to tackle law enforcement issues that the city faces.
She becomes the second woman to lead the NYPD. Keechant Sewell left in 2022 and was reportedly frustrated that Adams wasn't letting her call the shots.
Edward Caban resigned this year and is under federal investigation and Tom Donlon has been at the helm on an interim basis.
Former Commissioner William Bratton says Tisch will succeed if there is a clear pathway for her to do so.
"I think she's going to do a great, if the mayor lets her," Bratton said. "I think it's quite important that the mayor make it quite clear what he wants and gets out of the way and lets her do it. I think that was the issue with his previous three commissioners... and that's why he had three previous commissioners."
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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