New Yorkers of all backgrounds should welcome the news that Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani is officially retaining Jessica Tisch as his police commissioner when he takes office on Jan. 1.
We implored the incoming mayor in this space last week to do everything in his power to retain Tisch as the city’s top cop. For weeks leading up to his election, Mamdani had expressed a desire to retain Tisch, but it was unclear up until Wednesday morning whether Tisch herself would stay with the new administration.
In the end, as Mamdani and Tisch saw, it was the right move for all.
A little less than a year ago, Mayor Eric Adams made Tisch the police commissioner; she was the fourth different person in his tenure to hold the post. Keechant Sewell, Adams’ first pick, performed admirably, but had a falling out with City Hall. Edward Caban, her successor, fell into scandal. Tom Donlon, the interim appointee, was a caretaker who quickly clashed with department brass.
Tisch immediately brought a steady, competent hand to One Police Plaza. She shook up the brass and removed chiefs and other high-ranking officials tied to scandal and corruption. She worked with Mayor Adams to tackle the staffing crisis head-on, reforming the recruitment process to help address the biggest exodus of NYPD officers in more than 30 years.
Most importantly, Tisch helped lead the NYPD to historic drops this year in murders, shootings and other violent crimes. She did so while earning the respect of the rank-and-file, the upper echelon of the department, and elected officials of every political leaning, including Mamdani.
Tisch’s continuance as police commissioner is one less thing for New Yorkers to worry about. The balance of power at City Hall may be shifting, yet the NYPD will continue its crime-fighting mission under a commissioner who has proven to be a stabilizing force at One Police Plaza, and beyond.
We believe Mamdani would be wise to lean on Tisch’s experience as he works to fulfill one of his core campaign promises: creating a Department of Community Safety responsible for addressing mental health issues and other quality-of-life concerns facing New Yorkers every day.
Mamdani has said this new agency would be essential toward shifting such duties away from the NYPD, and giving the rank-and-file the ability to concentrate more on doing what it does best: fight crime. He will need Tisch to help establish the new agency with competent leaders and set parameters to ensure the safety of its staff in fulfilling its public safety mission.
Should the new mayor and current commissioner forge such a partnership, New York will be the safer, successful metropolis all of us want it to be.
