NYC Mayor Adams on Wednesday named Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch NYPD police commissioner — making her the second woman to serve in that role in the department’s 179-year history.
Tisch, who will become the fourth person to lead the department during Adams’ tenure as mayor, will be replacing Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon.
Her first day as police commissioner will be on Monday, officials said.
During a surprise announcement at City Hall on Wednesday, Adams called Tisch a “battle-tested leader who will continue to drive down crime and ensure New Yorkers are safe and feel safe.”
“I am confident that Commissioner Tisch will effectively lead the greatest police department in the world and continue to deliver the safety and peace of mind New Yorkers deserve,” Adams said with the sanitation commissioner by his side. “[Now she’ll be] fighting a different kind of vermin as commissioner of the greatest police department on the globe.”
Donlon has been reassigned to City Hall, where he will be working as a liaison with state and federal law enforcement under Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Chauncey Parker, Adams said.
Police Benevolent Association President Pat Hendry noted the repeated changes in the NYPD’s leadership, but said that “the challenges confronting police officers remain the same.”
“We are critically understaffed, massively overworked and completely unsupported by a justice system and an oversight regime that care more about punishing cops than helping us get dangerous criminals off the streets,” Hendry said.
“We hope to partner with Commissioner Tisch to make real progress on these issues as quickly as possible. The future of the NYPD and the entire city depends on it.”
Vincent Vallelong, the president of the Sergeant’s Benevolent Association, said he hopes Tisch will work with his members to improve “many important critical issues impacting NYPD sergeants and in particular, finally fixing the ongoing wage disparity within our rank that has left over 1,200 of our sergeants earning far less than the police officers they supervise.”
Detectives Endowment Association President Scott Munro was “elated” by Tisch’s appointment.
“We know we will work well with her,” Munro said. “She understands the NYPD. We can count on her.”
The Legal Aid Society, which represents low-income New Yorkers in their dealings with the NYPD, hopes Tisch’s appointment “will bring wholesale change to a city agency that’s in urgent need of reform.”
“The NYPD’s relationship with the communities it polices remains fraught as ever,” the agency said in a statement. “[We] urge her to immediately meet with community members to build real and meaningful pathways to input and accountability.”
The city’s newest police commissioner comes from the deep-pocketed Tisch family, which founded the Loew’s movie theater chain. The family also owns 50% of the New York Giants and routinely assists in political fundraising, including Mayor Adams’ election campaign, according to city records.
Tisch, 43, graduated from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School but has spent most of her adult life in city service.
She spent 12 years working as a civilian within the NYPD, beginning as a counterterrorism analyst, before moving up the ranks to become the department’s deputy commissioner for information and technology.
Under that role, she worked to “propel the NYPD into the next century of technological advancement,” she said after her appointment to commissioner.
“I’ve seen firsthand the profound nobility of the policing profession, and I was proud to work shoulder-to-shoulder with both uniform members and civilians,” Tisch said. “I understand the solemnity of this great responsibility.”
As deputy commissioner for information and technology, Tisch oversaw the rollout of new Motorola phones for every NYPD officer in 2015 but the department had to scrap the $160 million plan two years later because they couldn’t be upgraded to support NYPD programs and applications. She quickly pivoted and organized a massive project to equip every cop with an iPhone.
The smart phone plan revolutionized how cops receive up to the minute information in the field as well as take refresher courses on new tactics and patrol guide procedures, officials said.
Tisch also spearheaded the implementation of the department’s body-worn camera system.
After her stint in the NYPD, former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2019 named her commissioner of the city’s Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications, where she oversaw technology advancements across all city agencies.
When Adams became mayor, he named Tisch sanitation commissioner. During her tenure there, she placed 70% of trash in New York City under a container mandate and rolled out a weekly universal curbside composting service to all 3.5 million residences in the city.
The first NYPD woman commissioner was Keechant Sewell, who Adams appointed at the beginning of his administration. Sewell left after a year and a half while battling the persistent belief at Police Headquarters and City Hall that Adams, a former NYPD captain, and former Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks were micromanaging her and was calling most of the shots.
She was replaced by her First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban. Donlon then replaced Caban, who resigned during a sprawling federal investigation that ensnared other NYPD officers and members of Mayor Adams’ inner circle and Caban’s twin brother, who was accused of selling security to city nightclubs.
Neither Caban nor his brother have been charged.
Donlon’s promotion to police commissioner came under scrutiny after the FBI raided his home looking for sensitive federal documents he had acquired more than 20 years ago and kept in his home.
Adams has reassigned Donlon to City Hall, where he will be working as a senior adviser to Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Chauncey Parker, the Mayor said. Donlon will be filling in a spot vacated by Timothy Pearson, who resigned amid a federal corruption probe. Among his duties will be acting as a liaison with federal and state authorities.
“We appreciate his willingness to quickly come on board and dedicate day and night to this city,” Adams said about Donlon. “I look forward to having him serve in his new role.”
With Graham Rayman