NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani orders review of NYPD use-of-force policies, announces reforms

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani on Monday directed the NYPD to undertake a comprehensive review of the use-of-force policies, while also announcing a series of changes such as making it harder for a cop accused of misconduct to abruptly retire and avoid discipline. 

The review would be the first in-depth examination in a decade of the policies governing when and how officers are allowed to use physical force and deadly weapons, the mayor's office said. The announcement came after NYPD officer Salvatore Alongi, who fatally shot Win Rozario, 19, in March 2024 in Queens during what was described as a mental health crisis, retired before he could face a department disciplinary trial, the mayor's office said.

“When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest," Mamdani said in a statement. "Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary. 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, that our officers have the guidance and training they need and that New Yorkers and their families can trust their city will treat them with care and dignity.”

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch did not comment publicly on the mayor’s directive. But she earlier acknowledged the department had erred in Alongi's case by failing to advise the independent Civilian Complaint Review Board of his accidental disability retirement application, which could have resulted in a 60-day pause on the pension board vote, allowing the CCRB to hold a trial before the application got final consideration. 

“When we make a mistake, we need to acknowledge it," Tisch said. "We should have notified the CCRB before the Pension Board considered Officer Alongi’s disability pension so that CCRB could take whatever steps it deemed appropriate. As a result of human error, we failed to do so, and I apologize for that mistake.”

The civilian employee who failed to make the notification was reassigned with a pay cut, the NYPD said. 

Attorney General Letitia James' Office of Special Investigations in 2025 said it would not prosecute Alongi and Officer Matthew Cianfrocco, who both fired at Rozario, who was brandishing scissors inside his home, The Associated Press reported. The Office of Special Investigation recommended the expansion of a pilot program to send mental health professionals and paramedics to emergency calls involving mental health crises.

With all retirements, the NYPD generally has a limited window, once an officer files for retirement, to resolve matters like discipline, according to Rae Koshetz, who from 1988 to 2002 was the NYPD's deputy commissioner for trials. Punishments, she noted, can jeopardize an officer's pension, departure in good standing, and eligibility for a so-called "good-guy letter," which entitles an ex-cop to carry a firearm.

The practice of cops abruptly retiring to avoid the consequence of discipline has been identified for decades, including in a 1999 report by the Commission to Combat Police Corruption.

Mamdani, in his first 10 months as mayor, has made no sweeping reforms to the NYPD, despite his campaign promises and much to the chagrin of his base of Democratic socialist supporters.

He kept Tisch, who was police commissioner in the previous administration, perhaps signaling he would be more constrained in overhauling the police department than his rhetoric during the campaign indicated. He hasn't announced any changes to the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, which he has in the past accused of brutalizing protesters. The mayor has said he wanted to separate the group's key responsibilities of policing protests and responding to terror attacks. 

Mamdani's office said the reforms announced Monday included adding $2.6 million in funding for the NYPD's Office of the Inspector General, funds that triple the office's headcount. 

The NYPD in August also began a new retirement notification system, which was made public only on Monday, meant to ensure that department disciplinary processes are completed before an officer retires, in direct response to Alongi's case. Additionally, the NYPD will formalize a preexisting practice of notifying the State Division of Criminal Justice Services when an officer retired with pending disciplinary charges, in an attempt to prevent those officers from being hired by other police agencies elsewhere in the state.

The NYPD will also release the internal department reports generated when an officer uses force to the families of those killed or critically injured, the mayor's office said.

Patrick Hendry, president of the NYPD's rank-and-file Police Benevolent Association labor union, criticized the outside Civilian Complaint Review Board and said there should be no review of the department's use-of-force policies without a review of the board. 

“There should be no review of the NYPD’s use-of-force policies without a corresponding review of the blatantly biased and unjust way those policies are interpreted by the Civilian Complaint Review Board," Hendry said. "We have brought several examples of CCRB’s dysfunction and anti-police bias to the attention of the mayor and his team, and we’ve seen zero meaningful action in those areas."

The NYPD's 2024 report detailing its incidents when force was used by the police noted that there were 53 cases of weapons discharges by NYPD officers that year, 28 of which were described as adversarial encounters or conflicts.  A total of 14 suspects were fatally struck by officer gunfire that year. Also that year, six NYPD officers were shot, and a seventh, Jonathan Diller, a Massapequa Park resident, was killed by a gunman during a traffic stop in Queens. Guy Rivera was sentenced earlier this year to 115 years to life in Diller's killing. 

Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, a Republican who is running against incumbent Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat and Mamdani ally, criticized the mayor's moves, saying "everything he does is designed to make it easier for criminals to prey on our communities." 

"Look, we've had policies in place for years that work very, very well," Blakeman said. "But what he wants to do is he wants to make it more dangerous for our law enforcement officials. He wants them to second guess themselves in situations where they have a split second to make a decision whether to use lethal force or not. And basically, he's jeopardizing everybody that puts on the uniform and protects our communities.”

Blakeman also said officers who are the subject of disciplinary proceedings should be able to retire before the process has been completed. 

“I think that a police officer under investigation is entitled to retire if there has not been due process," Blakeman said. "Every police officer, every person working in any business or industry, is entitled to due process, and police officers should not be an exception.”

Newsday's Anthony M. DeStefano contributed to this story.