Back at the NYPD, Tisch joins a select group

Earlier this month, Jessica Tisch accomplished something few before her have done. She returned to the NYPD as commissioner after having previously left the department years ago.

The first to do so was Frederick Bugher in 1918.  He had previously served as both fourth deputy and first deputy commissioner during the administrations of Mayors George McClellan Jr. and William Gaynor. During the latter’s term, Bugher penned a letter to the mayor complaining about the laissez-faire manner by which his boss, Police Commissioner William Baker, ran the police department. Needless to say, it didn’t work out very well for him or the police commissioner. Both were fired. 

When Mayor-elect John Hylan approached Bugher about returning to the department as its head in 1918, Bugher agreed on the condition that there would be no mayoral interference. Bugher made that proviso known to the press and bragged that with his return, the force was getting a leader who knew the NYPD from cellar to ceiling. Twenty-eight days later he was looking for new employment.

Patrick V. Murphy was deputy inspector when he took a leave of absence from the department in 1962 to take a position as head of the notoriously corrupt Syracuse Police Department. He parlayed that experience to become director of public safety in Washington, D.C., and police commissioner in Detroit before Mayor John Lindsay tapped him to return to the NYPD in 1970. His broad experiences leading other agencies helped him tackle corruption uncovered by the Knapp Commission, but initiatives such as creating field associates, a network of undercover officers who spied on officers they worked with, and restricting the use of deadly physical force proved very unpopular among the rank and file.

Benjamin Ward, the first Black police commissioner had reached the rank of lieutenant when he was appointed special legal counsel to then-Commissioner Howard Leary, whom Lindsay brought in from Philadelphia to become his first police commissioner. Ward moved on to become the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of community relations and was involved in a notorious incident at a Harlem mosque that haunted him even after he returned to the NYPD in 1984 as police commissioner after stints in both the state and city Departments of Correction and the Housing Police. Mayor Edward Koch, an ardent supporter described him as “cool under fire” and praised his efforts to curb rampant illegal narcotics use in the city. Ward served over five years, resigning shortly before Koch left office.

The next two to return were each already police commissioners for two separate administrations. Ray Kelly served under Mayors David Dinkins and Michael Bloomberg. Ironically, the man who replaced him in both instances was William Bratton, who had served under their successors, Mayors Rudolph Guiliani and Bill de Blasio. Both men were praised for their leadership, although there are those who want to rewrite history and blame them for some of the city’s current ills.

Jessica Tisch joins this short list and is the first female member of the NYPD to return as head of the department. The fourth police commissioner of Mayor Eric Adams’ first term. Although her family is one of the richest in America, she has chosen the path of public service. The last wealthy female to serve in a similar capacity was Mrs. Julia Loft, of the Loft candy fortune who acted as an honorary deputy commissioner in charge of the Woman’s Bureau back in 1920.

From 2009 until 2019, Tisch worked at the NYPD under Ray Kelly and William Bratton, and also for NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill. During her tenure, she rose from counterterrorism analyst to deputy commissioner, information and technology. She left the department in 2019 to take charge of the city’s Department of Information, Technology and Telecommunication. 

Adams then appointed her sanitation commissioner in 2022. She has received nothing but praise from former colleagues and current union officials, many of whom said they are looking forward to working with her. Whether or not she can break the mayor’s cycle of hiring and firing remains to be seen. The five rehired police commissioners’ tenures have ranged from 28 days to 12 years. Since Adams may not win reelection and even fewer police commissioners have been retained by incoming administrations, she will be considered to have been successful if she lasts the rest of this mayor’s term.

Bernard Whalen is a former NYPD lieutenant and the co-author of “The NYPD’s First Fifty Years” and “Case Files of the NYPD.”