NYC mayor launches overdue use-of-force review and reforms to curb police abuse
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Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a long-delayed review of NYPD use-of-force policies, extra money for oversight, and a reform package meant to confront police accountability failures amid growing progressive pressure.
Mayor Zohran Mamdani said the city will finally conduct its first use-of-force review of the New York Police Department in ten years, adding a "package of reforms" aimed at forcing greater accountability when officers face serious misconduct allegations. The plan includes $2.6 million in extra funding for the Office of the Inspector General, which oversees NYPD policies and complaints, and a new notification system to ensure disciplinary hearings are completed before an officer can retire and evade consequences. It also calls for stricter compliance with state reporting requirements on police-involved deaths.
The initiative follows the retirement of the officer involved in the 2024 shooting death of 19-year-old Win Rozario during a mental-health crisis, which occurred before a disciplinary trial could begin, according to the mayor’s office. Progressive lawmakers have intensified calls for oversight, particularly targeting the NYPD’s Strategic Response Group, a unit that handles protests and large events. Seventeen state politicians, including congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, have urged the disbandment of the group after it was deployed during protests over an ICE shooting that left 28-year-old Oscar Belgal wounded.
"When I was in Marble Hill last night I saw NYPD officers rapidly escalating violence," Chevalier said in a social-media post, adding that she was "shoved to the ground by an officer" and observed unmarked police vehicles hitting protesters.
Mamdani condemned the ICE shooting and called for Belgal’s release from federal custody. Critics have highlighted a rise in NYPD use-of-force incidents, which climbed to 12,348 in 2025 from 4,087 in 2016, even as overall crime rates have fallen. Progressive officials continue to press for the removal of Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, appointed by former mayor Eric Adams, though the mayor retains the authority to dismiss her.
A city Hall spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the use-of-force review was already planned before the October 8 ICE shooting and subsequent demonstrations.