Mayor Mamdani Has ‘Final Decision’ on NYPD Policy: Tisch, for Now, Appears Fine With It

Days after the New York Mayor, Zohran Mamdani, declared that he alone holds the “final decision” on policy changes for the New York Police Department — especially as they concern the future of its Strategic Response Group — the future of a once-unlikely partnership remains in doubt. In an interview with The New York Times, Mr. Mamdani, a Democratic Socialist, said that he remained “steadfast in my commitment to disband the SRG” and was willing to override the police commissioner, Jessica Tisch, if necessary.“Our police commissioner runs the NYPD, our police commissioner reports to me. And as the mayor, ultimately I am responsible for what happens in our city within each and every city agency and department,” Mr. Mamdani, 34, told the Times.The SRG, a unit that responds to social protests and large-scale events as one of its functions, has been a thorn in an otherwise successful partnership between Ms. Tisch and Mr. Mamdani throughout his first 100 days in office.Last week, both Ms. Tisch and Mr. Mamdani announced that New York recorded its fewest murders and shooting incidents for the first quarter in recorded history. Ms. Tisch attributed the numbers to the NYPD’s precision policing strategy of targeting violent gangs and increasing the number of officers on patrol where needed. Before taking office, Mr. Mamdani promised to end the SRG and the NYPD’s gang database, which he called a “vast dragnet” that unfairly targets black and Latino New Yorkers with questionable ties to criminal gangs. However, at a press conference on Monday, Mr. Mamdani signaled that he had softened his stance on the gang database, citing the NYPD’s recent reforms to the program following an October report from the New York City Department of Investigation.“I’ve made my critiques of the database clear, and the NYPD has also implemented a number of reforms as per the recommendation that came through,” Mr. Mamdani said. But Mr. Mamdani appears committed to ending the SRG “in a manner that upholds both First Amendment rights of New Yorkers and keeps New Yorkers safe.” This week, members of the NYPD and City Hall officials, including Mr. Mamdani’s chief of staff, Elle Bisgaard-Church, traveled to Columbus, Ohio, to learn more about the Columbus Police Department’s use of a “Dialogue Unit,” which employs a “social identity approach” when responding to protests.A former NYPD commissioner, William J. Bratton, launched the SRG as a flexible unit capable of operating on both “offense and defense” when responding to social demonstrations and terrorist attacks, including incidents such as an attempted bombing outside Gracie Mansion on March 7.The suspects in that attack, Emir Balat and Ibrahim Kayumi, who according to law enforcement admitted they were inspired by ISIS, were among a group of counterprotesters responding to a “Stop the Islamic Takeover of New York City” demonstration hosted by a pardoned January 6 protester, Jake Lang. Both Messrs. Bala and Kayumi were seen on multiple videos lighting a homemade bomb containing nuts, bolts, and the explosive TATP, commonly referred to as “Mother of Satan,” which they believed would kill as many as 60 people if used in a crowded area, the Justice Department said. Members of SRG were among those officers who responded quickly to the scene. However, Ms. Tisch would later say the SRG was at the protest in a “backup capacity” and was brought in “as soon as mayhem ensued.”In 2023, as part of the city’s Summer 2020 protest settlement, the NYPD changed how it responded to “spontaneous protests” by introducing a “four-tiered” approach. For instance, the NYPD’s Community Affairs Bureau’s protest liaisons can only be staged as the primary NYPD presence at Tier 1, while specialized units like SRG are stationed nearby and deployed when the NYPD “believes that illegal activity may be about to occur or that the protest is going to block critical infrastructure.”Both Messrs. Kayumi and Balat were indicted on Tuesday on charges of attempting to provide support to a designated foreign terrorist organization, attempted use of a weapon of mass destruction, and transportation of explosive materials.A retired NYPD lieutenant and host of the podcast New York’s Finest: Retired & Unfiltered, John D. Macari Jr., tells the Sun that he hoped the case of Messrs. Kayumi and Balat would force Ms. Tisch to give the four-tier system a “serious reassessment” and place SRG as the lead bureau. However, the NYPD’s recent visit to Columbus, which included Assistant Chief of Police and Community Affairs commanding officer Victoria Perry, is a sign that leadership is now more aligned with “Mamdani’s political ideology than operational reality.”He adds, “This is a clear signal that the department is moving away from a proactive enforcement and toward an unproven public safety model that prioritizes conversation over control.”

Mayor Mamdani Has ‘Final Decision’ on NYPD Policy: Tisch, for Now, Appears Fine With It

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