Mayor Zohran Mamdani clarified Monday that NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch still reports directly to him after an executive order he signed sparked rumors she had been demoted.
The confusion stemmed from Mamdani granting his first deputy, Dean Fuleihan, supervisory authority over the NYPD on his first day in office, a move some interpreted as sidelining Tisch. Mamdani said nothing had changed.
“My police commissioner will continue to report directly to me,” Mamdani clarified.
The executive order Mamdani signed on New Year’s Day placed the NYPD under the first deputy mayor’s portfolio for day-to-day governance.
That structure had been standard under previous mayors until Eric Adams broke from the practice by assigning the department to a revived first deputy mayor for public safety role, which had been dormant since the 1990s. Phil Banks, who held that post under Adams, later resigned amid a sweeping federal corruption investigation after facing accusations of interfering with the NYPD.
While Mamdani’s order largely restored a standard bureaucratic structure, placing the police commissioner under the first deputy mayor, some interpreted it as a major shakeup that threatened the NYPD. Rumors also spread that Mamdani had stopped receiving daily intelligence briefings from the commissioner.
Those concerns prompted the National Jewish Advocacy Center to send a pointed letter to the new mayor, amid broader worries over his rollback of Adams-era antisemitism orders. Commissioner Tisch is widely viewed as a moderating presence in Mamdani’s democratic socialist administration, despite acknowledged policy differences, including on Israel. Mamdani emphasized that day-to-day supervision by the first deputy mayor is separate from ultimately reporting to the mayor.
“My police commissioner, just like my schools chancellor, will report directly to me,” said Mandani. “The executive order is in terms of the question of coordination. This is about the daily minutiae of coordination.”
The Dennis Michael Lynch Podcast archive is available below, with the most recent on top. Never miss an episode. Subscribe to the show by downloading The DML News App or go to Apple Podcasts.
