New York City Mayor Eric Adams last Wednesday announced the appointment of Jessica Tisch as commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), effective Monday, Nov. 25.
Tisch is the second female to serve as commissioner of the NYPD in its 179-year history; the first, Commissioner Keechant Sewell, was also appointed by Mayor Adams.
Tisch — a 12-year veteran of the NYPD and the current commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) — will take the helm of the nation’s largest police department as overall crime continues to drop across the five boroughs for the 10th straight month, as of October 2024.
As DSNY commissioner, Adams said Tisch has led the successful execution of his administration’s “Trash Revolution,” which has containerized 70 percent of the 44 million pounds of trash that New Yorkers set out on the curbs each day.
“The people of this city have been clear that they agree with what our administration has been fighting for since day one in office: a safer city where they don’t need to worry about walking down the street or taking the subway at night,” Adams said. “To ensure New Yorkers have the ability to thrive in our city, we need a strong, battle-tested leader who will continue to drive down crime and ensure New Yorkers are safe and feel safe, and I cannot think of a leader more up to the task than Commissioner Jessica Tisch.
“As one of the most successful managers in our administration, I am confident that Commissioner Tisch will effectively lead the greatest police department in the world and continue to deliver the safety and peace of mind New Yorkers deserve,” he added. “I also want to thank Interim Police Commissioner Thomas Donlon for serving our city over the last two months, after a lifetime of serving our state and this country. We appreciate his willingness to quickly come on board and dedicate day and night to this city. I look forward to having him serve in his new role.”
“For 12 years, I cherished the special privilege of serving alongside the brave women and men of the New York City Police Department,” Tisch said. “I’ve seen firsthand the profound nobility of the policing profession, and I was proud to work shoulder-to-shoulder with both uniform members and civilians to propel the NYPD into the next century of technological advancement.
“I thank Mayor Adams for the tremendous honor to now lead the NYPD, and I understand the solemnity of this great responsibility,” she added. “It is now my distinct honor to advance Mayor Adams’ vision of fighting crime and disorder; keeping our great city safe and vibrant; protecting all New Yorkers, including our officers who put their lives on the line every day, so they can live free of fear; continuing to build the most nimble municipal counterterrorism apparatus in the world; and implementing the most forward-thinking law enforcement training and technology.
“We will do all of this with integrity, as we continue to build public confidence and trust in the police,” continued Tisch, who was appointed DSNY commissioner in April 2022, managing the city’s waste collection, recycling and disposal, as well as cleaning and snow removal for approximately 6,500 miles of city streets.
Under her leadership, New York City has seen generational change in sanitation service, including the launch of the “Trash Revolution,” which, to date, has placed 70 percent of trash in New York City under container mandate, as well as the rollout of weekly universal curbside composting service to all 3.5 million residences in New York City.
Previously, Tisch served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) and citywide chief information officer from December 2019 to January 2022.
As commissioner, she ran the largest municipal IT organization in the country, with a wide portfolio ranging from public safety to human services to economic development. as well as New York City 311. She also rolled out the city’s first text-to-911 capability.
While at DoITT, Tisch additionally served as a core member of the team that managed the city’s COVID-19 pandemic response — building and managing critical programs that tangibly served New Yorkers, including the city’s vaccination system.
Prior to joining DoITT, Tisch spent the majority of her career at the New York City Police Department, where she served as deputy commissioner of information technology and oversaw the NYPD’s 911 operations. She spearheaded efforts to use technology to transform the NYPD’s fundamental business processes, including how officers are dispatched and respond to 911 calls, take crime reports, investigate, and search for wanted or missing persons.
Tisch also managed the development and implementation of the flagship Domain Awareness System, which is at the heart of the NYPD’s crime fighting and counterterrorism operations. Under her leadership, every officer was equipped with a smartphone, giving them access to real-time information in the field, as well as improving their accessibility to the public.
Additionally, she managed the implementation of the NYPD’s body-worn camera program and drove additional efforts to improve transparency and public access to the NYPD, modernizing CompStat by prioritizing democratization of data to precincts.
A graduate of Harvard College, Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School, and is a lifelong New Yorker, Tisch began her public service career in 2008, when she joined the NYPD as a counterterrorism analyst.
