Lander would keep NYPD Commish Jessica Tisch. Several of his mayoral opponents would too

New York City Comptroller Brad Lander, formerly a proponent of cutting police spending, released his plan for public safety as a mayoral candidate in front of One Police Plaza Tuesday morning.  

Though the comptroller disagrees with Mayor Eric Adams on many things, he emphasized one major point of agreement: NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch. She took over the department in November, and immediately started cleaning house. Lander came out in full support, promising to keep her in her current position if elected. 

“I’ve worked with Jessie over the past decade at the NYPD and at the Department of Sanitation and I’ve seen her relentless push to deliver outcomes to support those people,” Lander said. “I look forward to building on that relationship.”

Usually, candidates seek endorsements – rather than make them. Tisch wasn’t there and hasn’t commented on any of this. Lander said he spoke with her, but he did not get into specifics regarding his conversation with the police commissioner. But the Lander endorsement prompted City & State to reach out to the other major mayoral candidates to see where they stood on the technocratic new PC.

In addition to Adams, who appointed her, Democratic donor Whitney Tilson said he too would invite Tisch to stay on as police commissioner if elected. State Sen. Zellnor Myrie’s campaign directed us to his New York Editorial Board interview, where he said he was “impressed” by Tisch and that “she is the type of commissioner… that I would want in my administration.” Assembly Member Zohran Mamdani, former Comptroller Scott Stringer, former Assembly Member Michael Blake and Republican crimefighter Curtis Sliwa were noncommittal. State Sen. Jessica Ramos said she would like to have Tisch play a role in her administration but would not commit to a specific position. Attorney Jim Walden and Andrew Cuomo, who hasn’t declared an official run yet, didn’t respond.

Beyond keeping Tisch, Lander outlined a plan to increase the officer headcount in the country’s largest police department, which sits at 33,475 uniformed policemen as of October. Part of that effort includes a proposed expansion of recruitment efforts through the Police Cadet Corps by opening up the program to high schoolers who could join the ranks while enrolled at a four-year degree program.  

“We must confront the staffing crisis at the NYPD,” said Lander. “Expanding that program so kids can start right out of high school will help us recruit people and develop the next generation of officers.”

The hiring push he’s proposing was framed as a way to reduce overtime spending on officers as the city contends with a police corps that’s losing more members than it’s adding. 

Lander also called to “free the toothpaste” from the infamous locked barriers at retailers across the city and in his press release, aimed to focus on repeat offenders of such crimes  and suggested expediting investigations and enforcement of retail theft.  

The underlying theme tying his whole policy proposal together was his number one campaign commitment to end street homelessness based on a housing first approach providing supportive housing and improved coordination among city agencies for those in need.

Five years ago during his City Council days, Lander called for “$1 billion in cuts to the NYPD” and criticized hiring more police officers amid funding slashes for other city services. Although major crimes are down across the board year to date except for rape, total levels are still up overall since before the pandemic. 

During the presser, Lander acknowledged that progressives, himself included, were “slow to respond to the elevation of crime and disorder” throughout and after the pandemic. Although not a complete 180-degree heel turn from his days in City Council, it certainly signals a move to ever so slightly distance himself from his past rhetoric regarding the police.