2:28Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is pictured during a campaign gathering in the Brooklyn area of New York. | NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch is seen visiting Fox News Channel Studios, on March 23, 2025, in New York.Stephanie Keith/Getty Images | John Lamparski/Getty Images
The incoming New York City Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, will see a well-known personality continue to serve in his administration when he begins his term in January.
NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch declared on Wednesday that she had accepted Mamdani’s proposal to maintain her role when Mamdani takes over from Mayor Eric Adams.
As his mayoral campaign drew to a close, Mamdani, 34, stated he would not replace the commissioner if victorious. The mayor-elect pointed to the city’s decline in shootings, homicides, and transit offenses since Tisch, 44, started her time as commissioner in November 2024.
Democratic New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani is pictured during a campaign gathering in the Brooklyn area of New York. | NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch is seen visiting Fox News Channel Studios, on March 23, 2025, in New York.Stephanie Keith/Getty Images | John Lamparski/Getty Images
“I have spoken with Mayor-elect Mamdani on several occasions, and I’m prepared to keep serving honorably as his Police Commissioner. This is because he and I hold many similar objectives for public safety in New York City: diminishing crime, increasing community safety, eliminating corruption, and supplying our officers with the instruments, aid, and resources they need to perform their invaluable duties,” Tisch expressed in a statement.
“I have been impressed by her efforts to combat corruption within the higher ranks of the police department, reduce crime in New York City, and defend New Yorkers against authoritarianism,” Mamdani communicated in a statement.
Mamdani has previously voiced concerns about the NYPD and has issued apologies for certain prior remarks that criticized the force.
Tisch recognized that she and Mamdani do possess some differences in a department-wide communication on Wednesday morning.
“Now, do the Mayor-elect and I see eye to eye on everything? The answer is no. However, in discussions with him, it is evident that we share significant and essential priorities: the significance of public safety, the necessity to keep lessening crime, and the need to uphold stability and order throughout the department. We also concur that you are worthy of the city’s regard and assistance,” she stated in the communication acquired by ABC News.
New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani participates alongside other politicians in the opening event at the National Urban League’s new location in Harlem, on Nov. 12, 2025, in New York.Spencer Platt/Getty Images
“I am thankful that the Mayor-elect desires a team with diverse perspectives — a team where concepts and policies are assessed based on their own strengths. In these conversations, you can have faith that I will be a strong defender for you and for this department. You are aware of my style: I am straightforward. When I express something, I stand by it. And that will not be changing,” Tisch contributed.
Tisch, who is the daughter of James Tisch, the Chief Executive Officer of the Loews Corporation, has had prolonged involvement in city governance under various administrations.
In 2008, she functioned as an intelligence research specialist within the NYPD’s Counterterrorism Bureau, subsequently as counsel to the police commissioner, and as the Counterterrorism Bureau’s director of policy and planning.
In this March 29, 2025, file photo, Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch is present at the site where a mother and two children perished and a child was in a critical state after being struck by a vehicle operated by an individual with a suspended license in Gravesend, Brooklyn.Kyle Mazza/Anadolu via Getty Images, FILE
When Bill Bratton resumed leadership of the NYPD under Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2014, Tisch was designated as the deputy commissioner of Information Technology and spearheaded initiatives to enhance the department’s technology, including its CompStat tracking.
When Mayor Eric Adams assumed office in 2022, he appointed her as sanitation commissioner.
When Police Commissioner Edward Caban stepped down in September 2024, subsequent to a federal inquiry and an FBI search of his residence, Adams, who was charged with federal offenses that same month, selected Thomas Donlon as a temporary commissioner before declaring Tisch two months afterward.
She became the second female NYPD commissioner, succeeding Keechant Sewell, who held the position from January 2022 to June 2024.
Adams, who chose not to pursue re-election in October, commended Tisch’s performance and her choice to remain.
“In opting for her to continue as police commissioner, Mayor-elect Mamdani is acknowledging that our public-safety endeavors were effective and that they will persist into the future. We all desire a more secure city, and sustaining Commissioner Tisch in her position and supporting our police officers daily with the policies we have put into action, is precisely how we achieve that,” he expressed in a statement on Wednesday.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
