Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
Picture by Dean Moses
We implored the incoming mayor on this area final week to do all the pieces in his energy to retain Tisch as town’s prime cop. For weeks main as much as his election, Mamdani had expressed a need to retain Tisch, however it was unclear up till Wednesday morning whether or not Tisch herself would stick with the brand new administration.
Ultimately, as Mamdani and Tisch noticed, it was the precise transfer for all.
Rather less than a yr in the past, Mayor Eric Adams made Tisch the police commissioner; she was the fourth completely different particular person in his tenure to carry the submit. Keechant Sewell, Adams’ first choose, carried out admirably, however had a falling out with Metropolis Corridor. Edward Caban, her successor, fell into scandal. Tom Donlon, the interim appointee, was a caretaker who shortly clashed with division brass.
Tisch instantly introduced a gentle, competent hand to One Police Plaza. She shook up the brass and eliminated chiefs and different high-ranking officers tied to scandal and corruption. She labored with Mayor Adams to sort out the staffing disaster head-on, reforming the recruitment course of to assist deal with the largest exodus of NYPD officers in additional than 30 years.
Most significantly, Tisch helped lead the NYPD to historic drops this yr in murders, shootings and different violent crimes. She did so whereas incomes the respect of the rank-and-file, the higher echelon of the division, and elected officers of each political leaning, together with Mamdani.
Tisch’s continuance as police commissioner is one much less factor for New Yorkers to fret about. The steadiness of energy at Metropolis Corridor could also be shifting, but the NYPD will proceed its crime-fighting mission beneath a commissioner who has confirmed to be a stabilizing drive at One Police Plaza, and past.
We consider Mamdani could be sensible to lean on Tisch’s expertise as he works to satisfy considered one of his core marketing campaign guarantees: making a Division of Group Security chargeable for addressing psychological well being points and different quality-of-life issues dealing with New Yorkers day by day.
Mamdani has stated this new company could be important towards shifting such duties away from the NYPD, and giving the rank-and-file the power to pay attention extra on doing what it does finest: struggle crime. He’ll want Tisch to assist set up the brand new company with competent leaders and set parameters to make sure the security of its workers in fulfilling its public security mission.
Ought to the brand new mayor and present commissioner forge such a partnership, New York would be the safer, profitable metropolis all of us need it to be.
