Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced Monday that New York City will conduct an internal review of the NYPD’s use-of-force policies, but the plan does not include several changes he promised while running for office, including disbanding a controversial police unit and scrapping 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 announcing the review. “Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary.”
More than nine months into his term, Mamdani has not followed through on campaign pledges to disband the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, eliminate its gang database, or pull police resources away from enforcing low-level offenses.
The Rozario Case
The review follows the May 2026 retirement of one of the officers involved in the fatal 2024 shooting of 19-year-old Win Rozario, which happened before any disciplinary trial could be held. Video from the March 2024 encounter shows officers responding to a call Rozario himself placed. Rozario, who was in the middle of a mental health crisis, reacted badly to the officers’ presence; after they used Tasers on him without success, he picked up a pair of scissors and moved toward the officers, who then shot him at close range.
New York Attorney General Letitia James’ office declined to bring criminal charges against the officers in December 2025, saying prosecutors could not disprove beyond a reasonable doubt that the use of deadly force was legally justified.
“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.
What the Plan Includes
Mamdani’s office framed the initiative as a step toward stronger accountability. It comes with $2.6 million in additional funding for the Office of Inspector General for the NYPD. The department will also begin notifying state authorities when officers facing disciplinary charges retire, which would let the state weigh decertification and make it harder for those officers to quietly move to another law enforcement agency.
City officials say the use-of-force review is the first of its kind in more than a decade and will include what Mamdani described as a “robust community engagement process.”
Campaign Promises Still Unmet
The changes stop short of commitments Mamdani made during his campaign. He had called for ending NYPD arrests for low-level offenses such as public urination and open container violations, arguing that enforcing those rules made it harder for officers to focus on violent 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,” Mamdani said last fall.
Despite that stance, public urination summonses have risen 18% during his time in office, according to recent reporting.
Mamdani also pledged to eliminate the database of suspected gang members and to disband the Strategic Response Group, a unit that has drawn criticism and lawsuits over its tactics in handling protests. “As Mayor, I will disband the SRG, which has cost taxpayers millions in lawsuit settlements + brutalized countless New Yorkers exercising their First Amendment rights,” he wrote on X shortly after launching his mayoral campaign. Neither the database nor the unit has been eliminated.
Mamdani has also kept Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch in place; she was originally appointed by his predecessor, Eric Adams. Mamdani’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on whether his approach to police reform has shifted from what he outlined before taking office.
