NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch announced Wednesday that she accepted Mamdani's offer to remain in her position when Mamdani succeeds Mayor Eric Adams.
Late into his mayoral campaign, Mamdani, 34, said he would not replace the commissioner if elected. The mayor-elect cited the city's drop in shootings, murders and transit crime since Tisch, 44, began her tenure as the commissioner in November 2024.
"I look forward to working with Commissioner Jessica Tisch to deliver genuine public safety in New York City. I have admired her work 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," Mamdani said. "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."
He credits Tisch's leadership for achieving:
- The fewest shooting incidents and shooting victims in recorded history over the first ten months of the year.
- Murders down nearly 20 percent citywide year-to-date.
- More than 4,800 illegal guns removed from the city's streets in 2025.
- Reductions in six of the seven major crime categories.
- Citywide index crime down across patrol precincts, NYCHA developments, and the subway system
- The four safest months in transit in 15 years - with July, August, September, and October marking record safety underground outside the pandemic years.
"Thanks to the men and women of the NYPD, the strategies we deployed this year have delivered historic reductions in crime," Tisch said. "I've spoken to Mayor-elect Mamdani several times, and I'm ready to serve with honor as his Police Commissioner. That's because he and I share many of the same public safety goals for New York City: lowering crime, making communities safer, rooting out corruption, and giving our officers the tools, support, and resources they need to carry out their noble work."
She also sent a department-wide email Wednesday morning to officers and said leading the NYPD is the greatest privilege of her life.
"Now, do the Mayor-elect and I agree on everything? No, we don't. 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. We also agree that you deserve the city's respect and support," she said.
Tisch said she agreed to stay after "several conversations" with Mamdani that made clear the two do not agree on everything but share the same goals.
"I appreciate that the Mayor-elect wants a team with different points of view - a team where ideas and policies are debated on their merits. In those discussions, you can trust that I will be a fierce advocate for you and for this department. You know how I operate: I don't mince words. When I say something, I mean it. And that is not going to change," Tisch added in the email message.
During the campaign, Mamdani disavowed his past support for "defunding" the NYPD and apologized for referring to officers as "racist." PBA president Patrick Hendry praised the decision.
"She understands what police officers go through on a daily basis. And we're happy that she's staying as police commissioner," Hendry said.
Former NYPD Commissioner Bratton on Jessica Tisch (Full interview)
Several other leaders applauded the appointment, including Mayor Eric Adams.
"Mayor-elect Mamdani is recognizing our public-safety efforts were right and that they will continue into the future," Adams said. "We all want a safer city, and keeping Commissioner Tisch in place and supporting our police officers every day with the policies we have implemented, is exactly how we do that."
Others chimed in on social media, including New York Attorney General Letitia James, Gov. Kathy Hochul and U.S. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis
Jackie Rowe-Adams, a key voice in NYPD community engagement who has developed a strong relationship with the commissioner, also supported the decision.
"I'm glad that she was smart enough to say, 'yes, I'll stay on,' because what she got started already, she can continue," said Jackie Rowe-Adams of Harlem Mothers And Fathers S.A.V.E.
The commissioner earlier this year, took questions from kids at the Harlem Police Athletic League with Rowe-Adams's organization and others.
The mayor's office gets a lot of say in financial support for programs under the Department of Youth and Community Development.
Mamdani appealed to younger voters. Rowe Adams is reserving judgement to see what actions he takes to keep the next generation safe.
"And if he really cares about NYPD and saving this city, he'll work well with our commissioner because she cares, and she wants this city safe and save our youth," Rowe-Adams said.
Commissioner Tisch is an 18-year veteran of public service.
Prior to joining the NYPD, she led the New York City Department of Sanitation, where she oversaw the "Trash Revolution," the most significant modernization of the city's waste system in decades. She launched citywide containerization, redesigned collection routes, and expanded litter basket service to improve cleanliness across all five boroughs.
Before leading the Sanitation Department, she served as Commissioner of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, where she oversaw the city's technology response to COVID-19 - distributing more than 700,000 iPads to public school students and standing up the contact-tracing and vaccine-distribution systems that supported the city's recovery.
Prior to that, as the NYPD's Deputy Commissioner of Information Technology, Commissioner Tisch modernized core police operations and advancing transparency, including body-worn cameras.
Commissioner Tisch began her public service career in 2008 in the NYPD's Counterterrorism Bureau.
(ABC News contributed to this report.)
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