NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani’s offer to stay on as top cop when he takes office, The Post has learned — a bridge-building move that comes despite their profound political differences.
The highly anticipated appointment fulfills Mamdani’s campaign promise to keep the respected 44-year-old police executive in the prominent role as the far-left candidate looks to ease concerns from the moderate wing of the Democratic Party and Big Apple bigwigs as he builds out his administration.
Mamdani’s team, in a statement announcing the appointment, lauded Tisch’s leadership, driving a significant drop in crime — including record-low shootings so far this year.
“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 in a statement.
“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.”
Tisch, for her part, said her decision to stay came after several conversations with Mamdani.
“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 said in a statement.
Mamdani and Tisch will work together to keep NYPD cops focused on serious and violent crime, with the mayor-elect’s proposed new “Department of Community Safety” (DCS) taking the burden of dealing with homelessness and mental health issues, his team said.
The Democratic socialist’s pledge to pick Tisch — a well-respected public servant credited with leading the nation’s largest police force out of a rough patch, both on crime and within its rank — had soothed many New Yorkers’ fears about the incoming mayor, who has been criticized for past anti-cop statements.
Critics and political opponents claimed crime would skyrocket under Mamdani, over the pol’s since-disavowed statements calling the NYPD “racist,” as well as past support for defunding the police and the proposed DCS — which would have social workers respond to many calls instead of cops.
Restive business leaders, including Tisch’s own billionaire family, and other New York power players have been pushing her to stay in Mamdani’s administration as a firewall against many radical progressive police reforms.
And establishment Democrats such as Gov. Kathy Hochul and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries likewise said his commitment to Tisch played a significant role in their endorsements for the relatively unproven 34-year-old lawmaker.
While both are Democrats, the two will still make for an odd pairing, given their often opposing stances on public safety issues.
Tisch has been an outspoken critic of New York state government’s controversial 2019 criminal justice reforms, which law enforcement officials have slammed for creating a “revolving door” in the system that sees dangerous criminals arrested then quickly put back on the streets to reoffend.
Mamdani, meanwhile, has crowed the reforms haven’t gone far enough.
The commissioner also backed outgoing Mayor Eric Adams’ late-in-the-game plan to swell the NYPD’s ranks to 40,000 officers over the next few years.
While Mamdani, for his part, campaigned on eliminating the police department’s overtime, building out his DCS and keeping the force at its current 35,000 budgeted staffing level.
They are also worlds apart on Israel, for deeply personal reasons.
Tisch, who hails from one of the city’s most prominent Jewish families, is a Zionist.
Mamdani, by contrast, is a longstanding vocal critic of Israel who has pledged to order the arrest of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if he visits the city.
