New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered a review of how the New York Police Department uses force, the first such review in a decade. The move comes as his progressive supporters press harder for changes to law enforcement.
On Monday, the city also announced a package of reforms aimed at tightening accountability when officers face accusations of serious misconduct. The NYPD is the largest police force in the United States.
Retired officer’s case prompts new disciplinary measures
The reforms follow the retirement of an officer involved in the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Win Rozario in 2024, an incident that took place during a reported mental health crisis. The mayor’s office said the officer retired before a disciplinary trial could be held.
Among the measures is an additional $2.6 million for the Office of the Inspector General, the body that investigates NYPD policies and misconduct. The statement also proposes a notification system to ensure disciplinary hearings are completed before an officer leaves the force. It further renews a push for the department to comply with state-level reporting requirements on police-involved deaths.
Calls to disband Strategic Response Group after ICE protests
Much of the scrutiny has centred on the Strategic Response Group, a rapid-response NYPD unit that handles protests, major events and “civil disorder.” Earlier this month, 17 state-level politicians and political nominees, including congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, called for the unit to be disbanded. Mamdani had endorsed both Valdez and Chevalier.
In a joint statement, the politicians condemned the unit’s deployment during demonstrations against a recent operation by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Those protests followed the October 8 shooting of 28-year-old Oscar Belgal, who was inside an SUV with his five-year-old son when an ICE officer opened fire. The shooting, in the Marble Hill neighbourhood of New York, set off days of demonstrations against ICE tactics and a police response.
Chevalier wrote on social media that she was “shoved to the ground by an officer” during the protests. She also said she had seen other instances of excessive violence, including unmarked law enforcement vehicles hitting protesters as officers pushed people aside. Mamdani condemned the shooting and called for Belgal’s release from federal custody.
Rising force figures alongside falling crime in New York
Reported use of force within the NYPD has grown over the past decade, spanning physical force, the firing of guns and the use of electrical weapons such as tasers. The department recorded 12,348 use-of-force incidents in 2025, up from 4,087 in 2016, the year it first began collecting such statistics.
Crime, by contrast, has been declining. Earlier this month the city reported the lowest numbers of shooting incidents, shooting victims and murders in the first nine months of the year and in the third quarter, compared with any period in recorded history. Major crime, which includes murder, rape, felony assault and grand larceny, fell 9.4 percent in the third quarter and 6.6 percent against the same period last year.
Chevalier and other progressive politicians remain critical of the force authorised under the current police leadership. They have called on Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to step down. Tisch was originally appointed by Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, and the commissioner is appointed by the mayor, who can remove her alongside the governor of New York State.
A recent magazine report said New York State Governor Kathy Hochul made keeping Tisch in post a condition of her endorsement of Mamdani in the 2024 mayoral election. In a statement to the magazine, Mamdani challenged that framing, saying Hochul’s support for retaining Tisch was a recommendation rather than a demand. A City Hall spokesperson said the use-of-force review was already under way before the October 8 shooting and the protests that followed.
