On Monday, Mayor Mamdani put forward a broad examination of how the NYPD handles use-of-force situations, alongside a separate set of measures aimed at strengthening oversight of police conduct. One proposed rule would bar officers under active disciplinary review from resigning or retiring until those proceedings reach a conclusion — a provision that reform advocates say could have brought a measure of accountability to cases like that of Win Rozario, a 19-year-old killed by NYPD officers during a mental health crisis. In written remarks, Mamdani put forward the position that the bar for scrutiny must be at its most stringent whenever the government directs force against a city resident, and that all New Yorkers are entitled to assurance that such force will be applied within legal bounds, with due care, and only when the situation warrants it.
Members of Rozario's family gathered outside City Hall the previous Thursday to protest after learning that one officer connected to the shooting had been permitted to retire before a scheduled disciplinary proceeding related to Win's death could take place. Those who took the stage at Thursday's gathering described a sense of having been let down by Mamdani, pointing to what they characterised as an unfulfilled commitment to reform public safety at the pace he had promised. Among those who stood alongside the family at the rally were Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, Council members Alexa Avilés and Sandy Nurse, all of whom have aligned themselves with Mamdani.
The proposed reforms are unfolding alongside pressure from some on the left for the mayor to remove Tisch from her post — pressure tied to scrutiny over how the NYPD handled a shooting carried out by federal immigration officers — while a separate procedural lapse drew attention after the department did not notify the Civilian Complaint Review Board that an officer had submitted retirement paperwork, a step required under departmental guidelines that officials attributed to a human error in the process.
Under the updated framework, the NYPD and the Civilian Complaint Review Board — the municipal body responsible for examining officer misconduct complaints — are required to share information and alerts more consistently, reducing the likelihood that disciplinary proceedings will be missed. Among the additional provisions is a measure designed to prevent officers who depart the NYPD under open disciplinary proceedings from being taken on by other law enforcement bodies across the state. Under the proposals, the Office of the Inspector General overseeing the NYPD would receive a separate budget increase of $2.6 million.
Three voices shaped the public response to the proposed policing reforms. Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association, contended in a written statement that the package appeared calibrated to appeal to the mayor's activist base rather than to deliver any tangible safety benefit to New Yorkers. Nadia Shihata, Commissioner of the City Department of Investigation — whose office carries oversight authority over the Inspector General — took the opposite view, stating that the funding allocation would allow her department to bring its policing oversight unit to full capacity, a function she placed among her top priorities, and that adequate resourcing in that area would advance effective policing, protect civil liberties, and deepen trust between officers and the communities they work within. The NYPD, for its part, did not address the proposed reforms directly when contacted by reporters, instead pointing them to the statement previously released by Tisch in connection with Rozario's death.
Department officials noted that CCRB investigators found the officers in the Rozario shooting had followed department guidelines, yet the agency's board still voted to uphold disciplinary charges. Hendry, meanwhile, argued that any review of the NYPD's use-of-force policies ought to be paired with an equal examination of how those policies are applied by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, adding that the union had raised multiple concerns about the CCRB's conduct with the mayor's office without receiving a substantive response. Some observers tracking public safety have pointed to a gap between the pace of changes the administration has put in place and the breadth of reforms Mamdani had outlined as a candidate.
During his campaign, Mamdani put forward three policing-related commitments: dissolving the Strategic Response Group, retiring the gang database, and elevating the Department of Community Safety from its current office-level status to a full department. Tisch, named to the police commissioner post under the previous administration, kept her position in the new leadership arrangement.
