NEW YORK (1010 WINS) — Mayor Eric Adams appointed Jessica Tisch, head of the New York City Department of Sanitation and a police veteran, to be the next NYPD commissioner on Wednesday, just over two months after Edward Caban resigned from the role amid federal investigations.
“Commissioner Tisch is a 12-year veteran of the NYPD, and a 17-year veteran of this city, of city government, who has dedicated her professional life to serving the people of New York City,” Adams said of Tisch’s credentials at a public safety press conference.
While accepting the position, Tisch, 43, now the second-ever female NYPD commissioner, said that she was “looking forward to coming home” to the department after leaving her post in 2022.
“In my dozen years at the department I had the opportunity to work with some of the most extraordinary public servants,” she said. “People who run toward the danger when everyone else runs away. It is now my privilege to lead you.”
The Harvard-educated lifelong New Yorker has never walked a beat as a police officer, but started her city government career at the NYPD’s counterterrorism bureau. As planning and policy director, she helped shape the department’s post-9/11 security infrastructure, deploying mobile radiation detectors and helping develop a digital information-sharing tool with instant access to surveillance cameras and license-plate readers.
As deputy commissioner for information technology, she spearheaded the use of body-worn cameras and smartphones, transformed 911 dispatching, introduced an acoustic gunshot-detection system and worked with the city’s transit agency to make police radios work in the subway.
Adams, currently under indictment and facing a tough reelection bid next year as a majority of New Yorkers say he should resign, has made public safety a large pillar of his political platform. In her acceptance speech, Tisch echoed the Adams administration focus on efficient policing in a message to New Yorkers.
“Mayor Adams has been very clear that the priorities are supporting you as you fight crime and disorder, keeping you safe, and bringing the department into the next century,” she said.
The appointment of the city government stalwart comes as the department, and the Adams administration at large, faces fierce public scrutiny after months of federal investigations.
Following Caban’s resignation in September, Thomas Donlon moved to the head of the department as interim commissioner. But just a week after taking over, federal authorities executed a search warrant at Donlon’s home, a probe that he stated was “unrelated to [his] work with the New York City Police Department” but casted further doubt on the NYPD’s administration.
These tumultuous transitions were acknowledged by Police Benevolence Association President Patrick Hendry, who outlined the issues facing officers and the department as a whole.
“Through the numerous recent changes in the NYPD’s leadership, the challenges confronting police officers on the street have remained the same,” Hendry said in a statement. “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 offered hope that the mayor’s appointment could help ease the ills facing the NYPD, stating: “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.”
In her address to New Yorkers, Tisch diluted her mission as commissioner to one main point—safety.
“The mission is to keep you safe, to make you feel safe, and to improve your quality of life,” she said. “To restore dignity and order to every street, every neighborhood, every borough in the city of New York, not just policing of, but policing for. Fear has no place on our streets.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.