By New York Post (U.S.) | Created at 2024-11-21 00:15:41 | Updated at 2024-11-21 10:10:08
9 hours ago
New Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch isn’t afraid to shake things up.
Tisch, during a Post interview, stressed that she’s about “substance” — not “palace intrigue” — and is willing to upend the “status quo” to fulfill the mission of keeping New Yorkers safe if needed.
“I care less about the palace intrigue and more about the substance of the work,” Tisch, 43, said when asked about the turmoil in the department, including corruption investigations by the feds.
“I’m a substantive person,” she said.
The departing Department of Sanitation head — who spoke to The Post just hours after Mayor Eric Adams announced her as the new top cop — hinted she’ll make changes if necessary to bolster public safety.
“I think New York City is exceptional. I don’t think New York City’s exceptionalism means accepting the status quo when the status quo doesn’t serve New Yorkers,” she said.
Tisch served in the NYPD for 12 years as a civilian — and said she will be laser-focused on the department’s mission.
“The mission is to keep New Yorkers safe, feel safe and improve the quality of life,” she said.
Crime is down for the past 10 months “but people don’t feel that yet,” Tisch said.
The longtime public servant noted she has two boys ages 9 and 13.
“I want to protect New Yorkers and their kids the way I protect mine,” she said.
Tisch said she is eager to return to the NYPD as its leader and will have the back of rank-and-file cops, praising their “nobility.”
“I am thrilled. I’m coming home [to the NYPD],” she said.
“I love working with the cops. These are the people who run toward danger while others run away.”
Tish will be the fourth commissioner during Adams’ three-year tenure, and the second female top cop in the department’s history.
Her experience working for the NYPD never left her, she said, joking that until recently, she was calling sanitation garages “precincts.”
Tisch recalled starting out as a research specialist focusing on terrorism alerts and writing reports on the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
She worked her way up to serving as deputy commissioner of information technology and oversaw the NYPD’s 911 operations.
Tisch also served as commissioner of the city Department Information Technology and Telecommunications (DoITT) and citywide chief information officer from December 2019 to January 2022.
She is set to be sworn in as police commissioner Monday, and said her tenure was already off to a good start — thanks to a “gift” from her appointee, Adams, in the form of 1,600 new police officers that will arrive from two new classes of recruits.
“What a gift! Of course it will help,” she said.
Tisch said she worked closely with sanitation workers union president Harry Nespoli, who praised her tenure, and that she hoped to do the same with the NYPD unions
The new PC said she wants the public to know that she knows how to manage — and lead.
“I want to tell New Yorkers I’m a 17-year veteran of city government. I’ve run 2 different agencies,” she said.
