Mamdani orders review of NYPD use-of-force policies after progressive pressure
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday, 12 October 2026, ordered the NYPD to review how officers use force against civilians, the first such review in a decade. The move followed criticism over an officer who retired before a disciplinary trial over a fatal shooting.
The review and new oversight measures
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday, 12 October, ordered the New York Police Department to conduct a sweeping review of how officers use force against civilians. The review will take place over the coming months and include input from city residents and community groups. It will be the first review of the department's use-of-force policies in a decade. The department has about 33,000 sworn officers, and its policies range from tackling a subject to deploying chemical irritants or firing a weapon.
Mamdani also announced a package of oversight measures, including $2.6 million in additional funding for the Office of the Inspector General, which investigates NYPD policies and misconduct. The city said it will also push the department to comply with state-level reporting requirements on police-involved deaths.
When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest. Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary.
The retirement that prompted the announcement
City Hall said the announcement responded to an officer's retirement while the officer faced internal disciplinary charges over the death of a 19-year-old man. Officers shot the man in March 2024 during a mental health crisis. The officer was not criminally charged but retired before a disciplinary proceeding could take place.
Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said the department should have notified the city's Civilian Complaint Review Board during the retirement process. She acknowledged the failure in a statement.
As a result of human error, we failed to do so, and I apologize for that mistake.
The department has since introduced a new system to prioritize completion of its disciplinary process before an officer can retire, Mamdani said. The department will also formalize that practice.
Progressive pressure over the commissioner
Mamdani ran last year on shifting some police responsibilities to mental healthcare teams, but that plan has been slow to materialize. Supporters on the left have also criticized his decision to keep Tisch, a holdover from the previous administration whom critics see as an establishment moderate.
In the week of 5 October, Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist ally of Mamdani and the Democratic nominee for a House seat in Manhattan and the Bronx, called for Tisch to step down after federal immigration officers shot a man in the city. The Democratic Socialists of America called on Mamdani to fire Tisch over the same shooting. Earlier in October, 17 state-level politicians and political nominees, including Claire Valdez and Chevalier, called for the department's Strategic Response Group to be disbanded.
Police union reaction
The announcement drew swift condemnation from police union officials, who accused Mamdani of caving to left-wing allies. Patrick Hendry, president of the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York, said the move was an attempt to appease the mayor's base.
The mayor's radical base wants a wholesale dismantling of the NYPD, and it's clear this announcement is an attempt to appease them. It won't work, and it won't make New Yorkers any safer.
The ICE shooting and protests
The pressure traces back to an ICE officer's shooting on 8 October in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of New York. The officer shot a 28-year-old man while he was inside an SUV with his five-year-old son. The shooting sparked days of demonstrations against ICE tactics, as well as a police response. Chevalier wrote on social media that she was shoved to the ground by an officer during the protests, and she claimed to have seen other instances of excessive violence.
What happens next
The review will run over the coming months, with input from residents and community groups. The new disciplinary sequencing system and the additional Inspector General funding are already in place or announced.
- Officers fatally shoot a 19-year-old man during a mental health crisis
- An ICE officer shoots a 28-year-old man inside an SUV in Marble Hill
- Mayor Mamdani orders a use-of-force review of the NYPD
