Mamdani orders a review of NYPD's use-of-force policies as progressives call for greater change

Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday ordered the New York Police Department to conduct a sweeping review of how officers use force against civilians, moving to address growing discord among progressives who want the democratic socialist to exert stronger control over the nation's largest police department.

In a news release, Mamdani announced a slate of additional police oversight measures that include increased funding for the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD and policies to increase accountability when officers are accused of misconduct.

"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," the mayor said in a statement.

Mamdani ran for office last year on broad promises to reshape the police department by shifting some responsibilities from officers to teams of social workers, but the plan has been slow to materialize.

He has also faced increased scrutiny from liberals over his decision to retain police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, a holdover from the previous administration, who is seen as an establishment moderate. Last week, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist ally of Mamdani and the Democratic nominee for a House seat in Manhattan and the Bronx, called for Tisch to step down after federal immigration officers shot a man in the city. The Democratic Socialists of America called on Mamdani to fire Tisch in response to the shooting.

City Hall said Monday's announcement came in response to the retirement of an officer facing internal disciplinary charges over the death of 19-year-old Win Rozario, who was fatally shot by officers in 2024 during a mental health crisis. The officer, who was not criminally charged, was able to retire before a disciplinary proceeding.

Patrick Hendry, president of the New York City Police Benevolent Association, dismissed the city's plan in a statement, saying "the mayor's radical base wants a wholesale dismantling of the NYPD, and it's clear this announcement is an attempt to appease them. It won't work, and it won't make New Yorkers any safer."

Tisch said the department should have notified the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board during the retirement process. "As a result of human error, we failed to do so, and I apologize for that mistake," she said.

A police spokesperson referred questions about Monday's announcement to City Hall.

The police department has since implemented a new system to prioritize the completion of its disciplinary process before an officer can retire, Mamdani said Monday. The department will also formalize its practice of informing state officials when an officer retires while disciplinary charges are still pending, in order to prevent them from being hired at another policing agency.

The review of the police department's use-of-force policies, which City Hall said was the first such review in a decade, will take place over the coming months and include community input, officials said. The department has about 34,000 uniformed officers and more than 15,000 civilian employees.

Mamdani has also pledged to disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a specialized unit that handles crowd control and large-scale demonstrations and has drawn scrutiny over its disproportionately high rates of misconduct, including use-of-force complaints.

The unit was subject to a 2023 court settlement that imposed new restrictions on its deployment at protests, but Mamdani and other police reform advocates have argued that the measures fall short of what is needed.

The SRG’s future remains a point of tension between Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, whose retention has frustrated some of the mayor’s progressive allies. After the group arrested people protesting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's participation in the United Nations General Assembly, the mayor reiterated his commitment to disbanding the unit. “I have made that promise, I will fulfill that promise. The only question is the timeline of it,” he said.

Meanwhile, Public Safety Committee Chair Oswald Feliz was accused of postponing, which he denied, a planned City Council hearing on the CURB Act, legislation that would disband the SRG, leaving the timing of further scrutiny — and the unit’s fate — unresolved.