Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch will become New York City's new police commissioner, Mayor Eric Adams announced Wednesday.
As head of the sanitation department, Tisch is viewed as an ambitious leader who managed Adams’ signature “war on rats” and “trash revolution” by using the agency to clean city streets and implement curbside composting. As NYPD commissioner, Tisch will face greater scrutiny as the leader of the largest police force in the country. Her predecessor left under the cloud of an FBI investigation. And Adams’ first appointment to the role, Keechant Sewell, left after speaking out about sexism within the department. Adams, meanwhile, is scheduled to face trial in April on corruption charges.
Adams praised Tisch's experience and management ability in both sanitation and her past job as the NYPD's head of information technology, where she played a key role in rolling out the department's body-worn camera program.
“Our department is going to be so much better in the area of innovation,” the mayor said. “What we do here cascades across the country.”
Wednesday’s announcement at a press conference came as a surprise to both political and law enforcement observers.
Adams, who was joined by his top aides, began the briefing by detailing plans to restore funding for various city programs and agencies. Some of the money would go toward two additional police academy classes to bring the size of the uniformed force to 34,000.
Tisch then suddenly appeared by Adams’ side after leaving a City Council hearing on sanitation. She will succeed interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon, a former FBI agent whose home was raided by that agency shortly after his appointment in September. Donlon’s predecessor, Edward Caban, resigned after federal authorities seized his phone in connection with a probe into his twin brother’s business as a nightlife consultant. No charges have been filed in connection with the case and Caban has denied wrongdoing.
Tisch will be the second woman to run the NYPD. Sewell, the first woman to run the department, exited in June 2023 amid reports that she was being micromanaged and undermined. In a speech to female officers several months before her resignation, Sewell spoke about having to battle sexism, although she never publicly complained about the administration.
Tisch, a lifelong New Yorker whose family is connected to the Loews Corporation and co-owns the New York Giants, has long been rumored to have aspirations of leading the department. One of her mentors was prominent former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, according to a New Yorker profile of Tisch published earlier this year.
Tisch told members of the NYPD that she will "always honor" their service and will do everything to keep officers safe. She noted that just this week a police officer was shot in a confrontation with a robbery suspect, who was killed. And three people were fatally stabbed by a suspect with a long history of mental illness.
In her remarks on Wednesday, Tisch referred to her 12 years working in the NYPD.
“I have had the opportunity to work with some of the most extraordinary public servants, people who run toward the danger once everyone else runs away,” she said. “It is now my privilege to lead you and I’m looking forward to coming home.”
Her ability to lead will be shaped by her relationships with the department and with City Hall. Jeffrey Fagan, a Columbia Law School professor who studies policing, said it will be important to see the extent to which Tisch can make her own staffing decisions, including those that affect the mayor’s allies in the NYPD.
“The department can push back if she starts making big changes in leadership and sensitive areas such as leadership,” he said.
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said Tisch had her work cut out for her.
“Through the numerous recent changes in the NYPD’s leadership, the challenges confronting police officers on the street have remained 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 in a statement. “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.”
Tisch is expected to be sworn in on Monday.
“I could see her telling the mayor no when the mayor needs to hear no,” said former Lt. Chris Mercado, now a professor at John Jay College. “I could see her saying, look, Mr. Mayor, this is not going to work and here's why.”