After NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch agreed to work in his administration, the mayor-elect has gotten cagey on disbanding the SRG, scrapping the gang database, and giving the CCRB the final say in police discipline.
One day after NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted his job offer to join the new administration, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani can’t seem to give a straight answer to questions of police accountability that he had no problem articulating just a few weeks ago on the campaign trail.
Candidate Mamdani said in early October that he wanted the NYPD’s civilian watchdog, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, to be the “final voice of the question of accountability,” a position that angered police unions because this would put a stop to the all-too-common practice of the police commissioner short-circuiting police accountability—like Commissioner Tisch did earlier this year.
But in an interview with PIX11 on Wednesday, and at a press conference outside of City Hall on Thursday morning, Mayor-elect Mamdani was evasive on whether he still believes that the police commissioner and the NYPD should respect the CCRB’s determination as final.
“The CCRB has to deal with questions of petty politics and budget battles,” Mamdani told PIX11, dodging the question of who will have the final disciplinary say and shifting it to a discussion on the CCRB’s lack of resources. “I’m going to put an end to that by fully funding the CCRB so that no longer are we having to question whether we can follow through on a case because we don’t have the requisite amount of money.”
“So who has the final say?” PIX11 anchor Dan Mannarino pressed.
“Under the City Charter right now, that’s the commissioner,” Mamdani replied. “The question is, ‘Can the CCRB even follow through on the complaints?’ I’m going to make it my job to follow through on that by fully funding the entity.”
At Thursday’s presser, Mamdani was asked again about this shift in his position by a Daily News reporter. “You used to say that you wanted the CCRB to have the actual final say. It sounds like you no longer want that,” reporter Chris Sommerfeldt asked.
“No. What I believe is that the CCRB’s recommendation should be taken seriously, that we should ensure they’re able to make those recommendations time and again, not having to worry about whether they have the funding,” Mamdani answered.
Candidate Mamdani also said he supported abolishing the NYPD’s gang database, which is 99 percent Black and Latine New Yorkers—some of whom got added to it because they texted things like “Happy birthday gang.”
Asked Thursday whether he still believes it should be abolished, Mamdani replied, “I continue to have concerns about the vast dragnet and ways in which many New Yorkers are being put into that database.”
And what about the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group? “As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their first amendment rights,” Mamdani tweeted almost a year ago, offering a succinct and accurate history of the SRG’s legacy in New York City, shortly after they were deployed to arrest striking Teamsters.
Mayor-elect Mamdani is less sure on disbanding the SRG—though he has lots of “concerns,” and assures New Yorkers “we’re going to have a different response.”
Mamdani, who is meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, still has time to figure out how his promises will comport with his governance, but not much. Right now, Commissioner Tisch has to decide whether to allow an NYPD trial to move forward in the case of Wayne Isaacs, the police officer who fatally shot Delrawn Small in 2016. Isaacs was off-duty, and so an NYPD trial judge has sought to toss his internal case; dozens of elected officials and the CCRB have urged Tisch to allow the trial to proceed.
Loyda Colón, the leader of the Justice Committee, a group that advocates for criminal justice reform and for the families of people who are killed by the NYPD, called Mamdani’s appointment of Tisch “a disturbing endorsement of NYPD’s ongoing violence and corruption” and a sign that “the NYPD’s culture of impunity” will persist.
“Our city is crying out for a new, transformative approach to public safety,” Colón said in a statement. “Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s decision to retain Jessica Tisch as NYPD Commissioner raises serious concerns about his ability to deliver this.”
Back in late October, Mamdani told Hell Gate that Tisch would share his values, otherwise she wouldn’t have the job.
“The police commissioner will follow my lead because at the end of the day, I am the mayor and the one accountable to the people of this city.”
But in his PIX11 interview, Mamdani seemed much more at ease with Tisch’s record under Mayor Eric Adams.
“I am looking to keep her in this position because of the work she has done, not because of the idea that I have of overhauling all of it,” Mamdani said. “It’s about building that together.”
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full text
One day after NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch accepted his job offer to join the new administration, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani can’t seem to give a straight answer to questions of police accountability that he had no problem articulating just a few weeks ago on the campaign trail.
Candidate Mamdani said in early October that he wanted the NYPD’s civilian watchdog, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, to be the “final voice of the question of accountability,” a position that angered police unions because this would put a stop to the all-too-common practice of the police commissioner short-circuiting police accountability—like Commissioner Tisch did earlier this year.
But in an interview with PIX11 on Wednesday, and at a press conference outside of City Hall on Thursday morning, Mayor-elect Mamdani was evasive on whether he still believes that the police commissioner and the NYPD should respect the CCRB’s determination as final.
“The CCRB has to deal with questions of petty politics and budget battles,” Mamdani told PIX11, dodging the question of who will have the final disciplinary say and shifting it to a discussion on the CCRB’s lack of resources. “I’m going to put an end to that by fully funding the CCRB so that no longer are we having to question whether we can follow through on a case because we don’t have the requisite amount of money.”
“So who has the final say?” PIX11 anchor Dan Mannarino pressed.
“Under the City Charter right now, that’s the commissioner,” Mamdani replied. “The question is, ‘Can the CCRB even follow through on the complaints?’ I’m going to make it my job to follow through on that by fully funding the entity.”
At Thursday’s presser, Mamdani was asked again about this shift in his position by a Daily News reporter. “You used to say that you wanted the CCRB to have the actual final say. It sounds like you no longer want that,” reporter Chris Sommerfeldt asked.
“No. What I believe is that the CCRB’s recommendation should be taken seriously, that we should ensure they’re able to make those recommendations time and again, not having to worry about whether they have the funding,” Mamdani answered.
Candidate Mamdani also said he supported abolishing the NYPD’s gang database, which is 99 percent Black and Latine New Yorkers—some of whom got added to it because they texted things like “Happy birthday gang.” Asked Thursday whether he still believes it should be abolished, Mamdani replied, “I continue to have concerns about the vast dragnet and ways in which many New Yorkers are being put into that database.”
And what about the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group? “As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their first amendment rights,” Mamdani tweeted almost a year ago, offering a succinct and accurate history of the SRG’s legacy in New York City, shortly after they were deployed to arrest striking Teamsters.
Mayor-elect Mamdani is less sure on disbanding the SRG—though he has lots of “concerns,” and assures New Yorkers “we’re going to have a different response.”
Mamdani, who is meeting with President Donald Trump at the White House on Friday, still has time to figure out how his promises will comport with his governance, but not much. Right now, Commissioner Tisch has to decide whether to allow an NYPD trial to move forward in the case of Wayne Isaacs, the police officer who fatally shot Delrawn Small in 2016. Isaacs was off-duty, and so an NYPD trial judge has sought to toss his internal case; dozens of elected officials and the CCRB have urged Tisch to allow the trial to proceed.
Loyda Colón, the leader of the Justice Committee, a group that advocates for criminal justice reform and for the families of people who are killed by the NYPD, called Mamdani’s appointment of Tisch “a disturbing endorsement of NYPD’s ongoing violence and corruption” and a sign that “the NYPD’s culture of impunity” will persist.
“Our city is crying out for a new, transformative approach to public safety,” Colón said in a statement. “Mayor-Elect Mamdani’s decision to retain Jessica Tisch as NYPD Commissioner raises serious concerns about his ability to deliver this.”
Back in late October, Mamdani told Hell Gate that Tisch would share his values, otherwise she wouldn’t have the job.
“The police commissioner will follow my lead because at the end of the day, I am the mayor and the one accountable to the people of this city.”
But in his PIX11 interview, Mamdani seemed much more at ease with Tisch’s record under Mayor Eric Adams. “I am looking to keep her in this position because of the work she has done, not because of the idea that I have of overhauling all of it,” Mamdani said. “It’s about building that together.”
That’s not “can’t articulate campaign promises”, that’s a backflip