New York mayor orders review of police use of force
Theo Al Jazeera English
Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered the first review of NYPD use of force in a decade, alongside a reform package to strengthen accountability in cases of serious alleged misconduct. The move follows renewed pressure from progressive allies, including calls to disband the Strategic Response Group and to fire Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered a review of the New York Police Department's use of force for the first time in a decade, amid renewed pressure from the party's progressive wing over law enforcement reform.
On Monday, City Hall said it would introduce a "reform package" alongside the review, aimed at "strengthening accountability when officers are accused of serious misconduct". The NYPD is the largest police force in the United States.
The reforms follow the retirement of an officer involved in the fatal shooting of Win Rozario, 19, during what was described as a mental health crisis in 2024. "That officer retired before a disciplinary trial could take place," the mayor's office said in a statement.
Among other measures, Mamdani announced an additional $2.6m in funding for the Office of the Inspector General, which investigates NYPD policies and misconduct. Monday's announcement also called for a new notification system to ensure disciplinary hearings are completed before officers retire, and pressed the department to comply with state-level reporting requirements on police-related deaths.
Pressure from progressives
The announcement comes amid pressure from Mamdani's progressive allies to enforce accountability at the city police department. Much of the attention has focused on an NYPD unit called the Strategic Response Group, a rapid-response unit that handles protests, major events and "civil disorder".
Earlier this month, 17 state-level politicians and political candidates, including congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, called for the unit to be disbanded. Both Valdez and Chevalier are endorsed by Mamdani. In a statement, the politicians condemned the deployment of the Strategic Response Group during protests against recent operations by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
On October 8, an ICE officer shot Oscar Belgal, 28, while he was in an SUV with his five-year-old son. The shooting in New York's Marble Hill neighborhood sparked days of protests against ICE's actions, as well as against the police response. Chevalier wrote in a social media post that she had been "pushed to the ground by a police officer" during the protests, and said she had witnessed other instances of excessive force.
"When I was in Marble Hill last night, I saw NYPD officers rapidly escalate violence," Chevalier said. "I witnessed unmarked law enforcement vehicles ramming protesters as NYPD officers pushed people out of their path."
Mamdani has condemned the shooting and called for Belgal's release from federal custody.
Calls to fire the police commissioner
Critics often point to such incidents as examples of the need for tighter police oversight. Reported use of force at the NYPD has risen over the past decade, including physical force, the deployment of firearms and the use of electric weapons such as tasers. In 2025 there were 12,348 reported uses of force, compared with 4,087 in 2016, when the department began collecting such figures.
Crime in New York, however, is trending down. Earlier this month, the city reported the "fewest shootings, shooting victims and homicides" in the first nine months of the year and in the third quarter than at any time on record. Serious crime, including murder, rape, felony assault and grand larceny, fell 9.4% in the third quarter and 6.6% year on year.
Even so, Chevalier and other progressive politicians continue to criticize the use of excessive force under the city's police leadership. They are calling for Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who was appointed by Mamdani's predecessor Eric Adams, to resign. Commissioners are appointed by the mayor and can be removed by the mayor or the governor of New York state.
According to recent reporting by The Atlantic, New York Governor Kathy Hochul made keeping Tisch as commissioner a condition of her endorsement of Mamdani in the 2024 mayoral election. In a statement to the magazine, Mamdani questioned that interpretation, saying Hochul's support for keeping Tisch "seems more like a recommendation than a requirement".
A New York City Hall spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the use-of-force review was under way before the October 8 ICE shooting and the protests that followed.
