In October, Mayor Zohran Mamdani told Hell Gate that when elected, he would be in control of the New York City Police Department. "Everyone will follow my lead," Mamdani said, specifically referring to NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, the most prominent holdover from the Adams administration. "This pick and every pick that I will make will be to further the agenda I've been running on…The police commissioner will follow my lead because at the end of the day, I am the mayor and the one accountable to the people of this city."
Just eight days into Mamdani's mayoralty, it would be unrealistic to expect any seismic changes in NYPD policy. (We asked the Mayor's Office and the NYPD's Office of the Deputy Commissioner, Public Information when New Yorkers can expect noticeable change in Mamdani's NYPD—neither responded as of this writing.)
But it would be just as unrealistic to expect concerns about the new mayor's relationship with the department to fade anytime soon, especially as the prospect of a violent clash between New Yorkers and federal agents feels increasingly possible. In an interview with NBC New York on Thursday afternoon, the mayor recounted an early command to his police force, in the wake of ICE agents murdering a Minneapolis woman on Wednesday: "I've instructed my NYPD to be very firm about its adherence to the sanctuary city policies, which hasn't always been the case here in New York City."
Perhaps unfortunately for our new mayor, it was a busy week for New York's Finest. So far, Mamdani has seemingly backed down on discontinuing usage of the NYPD gangs database, has not stopped the NYPD from issuing criminal summonses to cyclists, and took time to respond to two police killings, while the NYPD tested out their protest response tactics on New Yorkers.
Hell Gate will update this story in the event that DCPI and/or the Mayor's Office respond to our requests for comment.