Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday that New York City will launch an internal review of the NYPD’s use-of-force policies, the first such review in more than a decade. But the plan leaves in place several of the police practices he vowed to dismantle as a candidate, including the Strategic Response Group and a database of suspected gang members.
“When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest,” Mamdani said in a press release. “Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary.”
The announcement comes more than nine months into Mamdani’s tenure and follows the May 2026 retirement of an officer involved in the 2024 fatal shooting of 19-year-old Win Rozario, a retirement that came before any disciplinary trial could be held.
Video of the March 2024 encounter shows officers responding to a 911 call that Rozario himself placed while experiencing a mental health crisis. After officers used Tasers on him without subduing him, Rozario picked up a pair of scissors and advanced toward them, and officers shot him at close range. New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office declined to bring criminal charges against the officers in December 2025, finding that prosecutors could not disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of deadly force was justified under state law.
“We have an obligation to Win’s family and to every New Yorker who calls for help in a moment of crisis. This review is about making sure our policies reflect that responsibility,” Mamdani said.
New funding, new disclosure rule
The review will come with $2.6 million in additional funding for the Office of Inspector General for the NYPD and will include what Mamdani’s office calls a “robust community engagement process.” The NYPD will also begin notifying state authorities when officers facing disciplinary charges retire, a change intended to let the state weigh decertification and prevent those officers from quietly joining another department.
Campaign promises still unmet
The initiative does not touch several policies Mamdani pledged to eliminate while running for office. He has not disbanded the Strategic Response Group, the NYPD unit criticized for aggressive tactics against protesters. “As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their First Amendment rights,” Mamdani wrote on X shortly after launching his campaign.
He also has not eliminated the NYPD’s database of suspected gang members, another campaign target.
On the campaign trail, Mamdani also called for ending arrests for low-level offenses such as public urination and open-container violations, arguing the practice diverted officers from more serious crime. “The fact that every year we ask them to take on additional responsibilities – we are making it more and more difficult for them to respond to the very responsibilities that drew them to the job in the first place,” he said last fall. Since he took office, public urination summonses have instead risen 18%, according to recent reporting.
Mamdani has also kept Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in place, a holdover appointee from predecessor Eric Adams.
Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether his policing agenda has shifted from what he promised before taking office.
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