Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday announced a series of reforms for the NYPD, including a “comprehensive review” of the department’s use-of-force policies and a series of changes designed to “strengthen accountability when police officers are accused of serious misconduct.”
The announcement marks the mayor’s first major attempt to confront concerns raised by his left-leaning base that he has largely abandoned major police reforms he promised during his campaign for City Hall.
The move comes a few days after the family of Win Rozario, a Queens teenager who was fatally shot by police while experiencing a mental health crisis, blasted the mayor and Jessica Tisch, his police commissioner, after it was disclosed the NYPD dropped the ball and let one of the cops retire before he could face a disciplinary trial.
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On Thursday Tisch acknowledged the department had failed to notify a police oversight agency, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, that Officer Salvatore Alongi had put in his retirement papers as they are required to do. Tisch apologized and said the department would strengthen its efforts to ensure the CCRB was fully informed about cops facing discipline for misconduct who are seeking to retire.
That is one of the reforms Mamdani referenced on Friday, along with a review of the NYPD’s use-of-force practices. The mayor said it was the first such review in 10 years and would include “a robust community engagement process.”
“When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest. Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary,” Mamdani said in a statement. “We have an obligation to Win’s family and to every New Yorker who calls for help in a moment of crisis.”
Mamdani said the review would ensure “that our officers have the guidance and training they need and that New Yorkers and their families can trust their city will treat them with care and dignity.”
During his campaign for mayor, Mamdani made several promises about reforming the nation’s biggest police force. But soon after he won, Mamdani announced he was keeping Police Commissioner Tisch — who embraced many of the policies and protocols the new mayor-elect had vowed to do away with.
On the campaign trail, Mamdani promised to eliminate an NYPD database of suspected gang members and a unit known as the Strategic Response Group that’ was criticized for aggressive tactics during a wave of protests over police brutality in 2020. The NYPD continues to employ both.
He also demanded an end to the department’s crackdown on low level “quality of life” crimes such as public urination, turnstile jumping and open container violations. But Mamdani backed off from that promise, and the number of these citations hit 220,802 in fiscal 2026 — a 12% increase from the prior fiscal year, according to the mayor’s most recent management report.
Many of his left-leaning supporters and Rozario’s family have called on Mamdani to fire Tisch, but to date he’s backed her at nearly every turn. In June there was one exception.
After Tisch announced at a City Council hearing the administration planned to hire 500 more cops, Mamdani’s leftist backers in the Democratic Socialists of America demanded he ditch the extra hires. He backtracked and the hiring number stayed flat.
The reforms he announced Friday start with the mayor’s promise to steer $2.6 million more to the NYPD Office of Inspector General’s $1.14 million budget to triple the unit’s current headcount of 11 and “empower the OIG to investigate policies and practices that undermine accountability for police misconduct.” Three of the unit’s staff lines are vacant, including that of the inspector general.
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The mayor said the NYPD would also re-up a pre-existing practice of submitting personnel information to the state about police officers facing discipline for serious misconduct when the officer retires. This is aimed at preventing retired cops from jumping to other law enforcement jobs to avoid scrutiny by the NYPD’s internal disciplinary system.
The mayor also will also require the department to address its haphazard release of information to the public and families of people killed or seriously injured in police-involved incidents, including releasing use-of-force reports to the families of victims and their representatives.
Another reform would “ensure compliance” with a law requiring the NYPD to report police-involved deaths to the state Division of Criminal Justice Services.
“Together, these reforms are intended to ensure that serious allegations are investigated, disciplinary cases are resolved, the public can understand how the City responds when use of force results in serious death or injury and independent oversight has the necessary resources to do its important work.”
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