NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani said Tuesday he has "no plans" to fire NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch, publicly rejecting demands from his own democratic socialist allies to remove the city's top cop over the department's response to protests that followed last week's shooting by federal immigration agents in Marble Hill.
"Jessica Tisch is the police commissioner. I have no plans to change that," Mamdani told reporters Tuesday morning, according to Fox News Politics, shortly before appearing alongside Tisch at a Battery Park City ceremony honoring 42 fallen NYPD members.
The mayor defended his decision by pointing to Tisch's record since he took office.
"The reason that I made the decision to have Jessica Tisch as the police commissioner was because of her record of uprooting corruption from the upper echelons of the NYPD, while lowering crime across our city," he said. Mamdani added that during their 10 months working together, the city recorded what he described as the lowest number of murders, shootings and shooting victims in its history.
The remarks came four days after the New York City chapter of the Democratic Socialists of America — the organization that helped propel Mamdani into City Hall — issued a statement criticizing Tisch and the NYPD's handling of protests following the Oct. 8 shooting of a man by federal immigration agents in Marble Hill.
In its Oct. 9 statement, NYC-DSA accused the NYPD of clearing the way for ICE agents as demonstrators gathered in solidarity with the wounded man, identified as Oscar Bergal, who was shot while his 5-year-old son was inside his vehicle. The organization also alleged that NYPD officers mistreated protesters, including Democratic socialist congressional candidate Darializa Avila Chevalier, who it said was shoved to the ground.
Chevalier, who is running in New York's 13th Congressional District with Mamdani's endorsement, also called for Tisch's removal, accusing the commissioner of attempting to justify the shooting by discussing Bergal's criminal history at a news conference.
The Democratic Socialists of America have further alleged that Tisch is facilitating Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities in New York — claims both the commissioner and the mayor have denied. The organization contends that agents involved in the shooting were able to leave the hospital with Bergal because officers with the NYPD's Strategic Response Group cleared protesters from the street, ABC7 New York reported.
"Right now, the NYPD is not out here to make us feel safe at protests," protester Micaela Martinez told ABC7.
Mamdani has vowed to dismantle the Strategic Response Group and shift its focus to counterterrorism. The NYPD plans to review its response to the hospital protests, as well as its use-of-force guidelines, according to ABC7.
Scott Munro, president of the Detectives Endowment Association, told ABC7 the mayor should instead focus on the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
"The mayor needs to worry about the people that work at the CCRB, (that they) know how to investigate, to do their jobs, because they were anti-police. That's the problem," Munro said.
The working relationship between Mamdani and Tisch has drawn scrutiny given their ideological and policy differences. Tisch was appointed by then-Mayor Eric Adams, and Mamdani kept her on in part because of her crime-fighting record, according to reporting from other outlets covering the story.
Those disagreements have not disappeared. Tisch has repeatedly praised the NYPD's gang database, a tool Mamdani has called for dismantling since 2022, citing racial disparities. The two have also clashed over the Strategic Response Group, which Mamdani pledged during his campaign to disband.
There are personal dimensions as well. Mamdani skipped the annual Israel Day Parade in May, of which Tisch served as grand marshal. The Times of Israel reported Monday that threats to Tisch, whom it described as the NYPD's pro-Israel commissioner, have become an inflection point for New York's Jewish community — raising questions about the mayor's response to antisemitism.
Despite the friction, the two have maintained what appears to be a functional working relationship. Tisch has told people the two get along despite their disagreements, and her presence has helped maintain confidence with Jewish voters and the city's business communities, according to coverage of the dispute.
For now, the city's police commissioner is staying put. Whether that holds as pressure from Mamdani's own political base continues to build is a separate question.
Our Take
Give Mamdani this much: he didn't cave. At least not yet.
The Democratic Socialists of America put him in City Hall. They knocked doors, they raised money, they built the machine that made a self-described socialist the mayor of New York. And now that machine wants the police commissioner's head on a plate — over a protest response, not a crime wave, not a corruption scandal, not a single dollar misspent.
Mamdani's answer: no. Not happening.
Why? Because even a mayor who spent years calling for defunding the police understands what happens when the NYPD stops functioning. Murders, shootings and shooting victims at record lows is not a talking point he can afford to throw away, and he knows it. Tisch is the reason he gets to claim that record.
But don't mistake this for a conversion. The man who wants to dismantle the Strategic Response Group and the gang database is still sitting in the mayor's office. The people demanding Tisch's ouster haven't gone anywhere either. They're watching, and they'll be back.
New Yorkers who want to feel safe in their own city should pay close attention. The mayor made the right call Tuesday. The question is how long it lasts — and who he listens to when the pressure comes back.
