Zohran Mamdani praises NYPD Commish Tisch's crime record but won't commit to keeping her if elected — and defends previous silence on slain cops
The Democratic socialist refused to say if he'd retain the popular top cop and also defended his previous silence on slain cops at National Night Out, an annual police-community bond-building event, on Tuesday evening.
'I have great appreciation of the swift and decisive action Commissioner Tisch took to root out corruption and the upper echelons of the NYPD and the way in which she has presided over in department that has seen crime continue to lower across the city,' Mamdani told reporters at the event.
3 Mayoral frontrunner Zohran Mamdani praised NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch for her crime record, but wouldn't commit to keeping her in his administration if elected during a National Night Out event Tuesday.
REUTERS
'I'm appreciative of the work that's been done and still think that it's too early for me to make those commitments as I run for the general election,' he said at the event, where he made remarks alongside Attorney General Letitia James.
Mamdani's statements come as new NYPD statistics revealed shootings so far this year plunged to the lowest level on record under Tisch's leadership.
The Big Apple saw 412 shooting incidents, with 489 victims, during the first seven months of 2025, according to the data released by the police department this week.
Both are records that comfortably shatter the previous lows for shootings — 426 — and shooting victims — 522 — respectively, set over the same time frame in 2017 and 2018, cops said.
3 Mamdani's statements come as new NYPD statistics revealed shootings so far this year plunged to the lowest level on record under Tisch's leadership.
Stephen Yang
The Democratic mayoral primary winner also defended himself against Mayor Eric Adams' criticism that he's only attended cop funerals while making a run for City Hall and has otherwise blown off NYPD burials during his years as a state lawmaker.
Mamdani, 33, served more than four years in the state Assembly before his surprise Democratic primary win against former Gov. Andrew Cuomo in June.
'As a state legislator, my focus has been on the tragedies and the triumphs of my district that I've represented, of Astoria and Long Island City,' Mamdani told reporters, not directly acknowledging the no-shows.
The Ugandan-born lefty paid his respects to relatives of NYPD cop Didarul Islam last week, after the four-year department veteran was gunned down in a mass shooting inside a Park Avenue office building.
3 The Democratic mayoral primary winner also defended himself against Mayor Adams' criticism that he's only attended cop funerals while making a run for City Hall.
REUTERS
But Mamdani was a no-show — and didn't say a peep — after a half dozen of New York's Finest died during his tenure in Albany after they were gunned down in the line of duty, records reviewed by The Post show.
'As I run for citywide office and seek to represent this entire city, my focus is on extending that to every single borough of this city and over the course of this campaign, to see the horrific mass shooting that took the lives of four New Yorkers, including Detective Islam,' Mamdani said.
'And I pray and hope that there will be no further shootings of police officers or murders over the course of this campaign or over the course of the time that I seek to be the mayor of this city,' he said.
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