Zohran Mamdani orders use-of-force review for New York City police

A city spokesperson says the calls for reform are not connected to the police response to an ICE shooting last week.

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani holds a news conference at the site of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shooting in New York's Bronx borough on October 8, 2026 [Eduardo Munoz/Reuters]

Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered a review of the New York City Police Department’s use of force for the first time in a decade amid renewed pressure from his progressive base for law enforcement reform.

On Monday, the city said it would introduce a “package of reforms” in addition to the review, to “strengthen accountability when police officers are accused of serious misconduct”.

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The New York Police Department (NYPD) is the largest police force in the United States.

The reforms follow the retirement of a police officer involved in the shooting death of 19-year-old Win Rozario during a reported mental health crisis in 2024.

“That officer retired before a disciplinary trial could take place,” the mayor’s office said in a statement.

Among other measures Mamdani announced is $2.6m in additional funding for the Office of the Inspector General, which investigates NYPD policies and misconduct.

Monday’s statement also calls for a new notification system to ensure disciplinary hearings are completed before an officer retires, and it includes a renewed push for the department to comply with state-level reporting requirements about police-involved deaths.

Progressive pressure

The announcement comes amid pressure from Mamdani’s fellow progressives to enforce accountability at the city’s police department.

Much of the focus has fallen on a division within the NYPD called the Strategic Response Group, a rapid-response unit that addresses protests, major events and “civil disorder”.

Earlier this month, 17 state-level politicians and political nominees, including congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, called for the group to be disbanded. Both Valdez and Chevalier were endorsed by Mamdani.

In a statement, the politicians denounced the Strategic Response Group’s deployment during protests against a recent US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operation.

On October 8, an ICE officer shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal while he was inside an SUV last week with his five-year-old son. The shooting, which took place in New York’s Marble Hill neighbourhood, sparked days of demonstrations against ICE’s tactics, as well as a police response.

Chevalier wrote in a post on social media that she was “shoved to the ground by an officer” during the protests. She also claimed to have observed other instances of excessive violence.

“When I was in Marble Hill last night I saw NYPD officers rapidly escalating violence,” Chevalier said.

“I witnessed unmarked law enforcement cars hitting protesters as NYPD officers pushed people out of its path.”

Mamdani condemned the shooting and called for Belgal’s release from federal custody.

Calls for police chief’s removal

Critics have frequently pointed to such incidents as examples of why greater police oversight is necessary.

Reported use of force within the NYPD has increased over the last decade, including physical force, the deployment of firearms, and the use of electrical weapons like tasers.

There were 12,348 reported use-of-force incidents in 2025, compared with 4,087 in 2016, when the department first started collecting such statistics.

Crime in New York City, however, has been on the downturn. Earlier this month, the city reported the “fewest shooting incidents, shooting victims, and murders” in the first nine months of the year and in the third quarter of the year, compared with any time in recorded history.

Major crime, which includes murder, rape, felony assault and grand larceny, declined 9.4 percent in the third quarter and 6.6 percent compared with the same period last year.

Still, Chevalier and other progressive politicians remained critical of the excess force authorised under the city’s police leadership. They have called on Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, who was originally appointed by Mamdani’s predecessor, Eric Adams, to step down.

The commissioner is appointed by the mayor. She can be removed either by the mayor or the governor of New York State.

According to recent reporting from The Atlantic magazine, New York State Governor Kathy Hochul made retaining Tisch as police commissioner a condition of her endorsement for Mamdani in the 2024 mayoral election.

In a statement to the magazine, Mamdani questioned that framing, saying Hochul’s support for keeping Tisch was “more of a recommendation” than a demand.

A New York City Hall spokesperson told Al Jazeera that the use-of-force review was already in the works prior to the October 8 ICE shooting and the protests that followed.

一位市政府发言人表示，要求改革的呼声与上周警方对移民执法局枪击事件的回应无关。

2026年10月8日，纽约市市长佐兰·马姆达尼在纽约布朗克斯区美国移民和海关执法局（ICE）枪击事件现场举行新闻发布会。[Eduardo Munoz/路透社]

在进步派支持者不断施压要求执法改革之际，纽约市长佐兰·马姆达尼下令对纽约市警察局的武力使用情况进行十年来首次审查。

周一，该市表示，除了审查之外，还将推出“一揽子改革措施”，以“加强对警察被指控严重不当行为的问责”。

列表 1/4：爱尔兰总理马姆达尼在纽约玩宾果游戏，“劈叉”

纽约市长马姆达尼因参加10月7日守夜活动而受到抨击（共4条记录，此为第2条）

（共4起） ICE枪击纽约男子，车内载有5岁儿童，引发抗议活动（第3起）

国土安全部为纽约市移民及海关执法局枪击事件辩护，称执法人员当时认为自己身处险境（共4条记录，此为第4条）。

纽约警察局（NYPD）是美国最大的警察部队。

此次改革是在一名涉嫌在 2024 年枪杀 19 岁青年 Win Rozario 的警官退休后进行的，据报道，Win Rozario 当时正处于精神健康危机之中。

市长办公室在一份声明中表示：“那名警官在纪律审判进行之前就退休了。”

马姆达尼宣布的其他措施包括向监察长办公室追加 260 万美元的资金，该办公室负责调查纽约警察局的政策和不当行为。

周一的声明还呼吁建立新的通知系统，以确保在警官退休前完成纪律听证会，并再次敦促该部门遵守州级有关警察涉案死亡事件的报告要求。

渐进压力

在马姆达尼的进步派同僚们向市警察局施压，要求加强问责制之际，这一声明发布了。

大部分关注点都集中在纽约警察局内部一个名为“战略反应小组”的部门上，这是一个快速反应部队，负责应对抗议活动、重大事件和“内乱”。

本月初，包括国会候选人克莱尔·瓦尔德斯和达里亚利扎·阿维拉·舍瓦利埃在内的17名州级政客和政治候选人呼吁解散该组织。瓦尔德斯和舍瓦利埃都得到了马姆达尼的支持。

在一份声明中，这些政界人士谴责了战略反应小组在最近美国移民和海关执法局 (ICE) 行动引发的抗议活动中的部署。

10月8日，一名美国移民及海关执法局（ICE）官员上周在纽约大理石山社区枪杀了28岁的奥斯卡·贝尔加尔，当时他正和5岁的儿子待在一辆SUV里。这起枪击事件引发了持续数日的抗议ICE做法的示威活动，以及警方的回应。

谢瓦利埃在社交媒体上发帖称，她在抗议活动中“被一名警察推倒在地”。她还声称目睹了其他过度暴力事件。

“昨晚我在大理石山的时候，看到纽约警察局的警员迅速升级了暴力行为，”谢瓦利埃说。

“我亲眼目睹了没有标记的执法车辆撞向抗议者，而纽约警察局的警员则将人们推开。”

马姆达尼谴责了这起枪击事件，并呼吁联邦政府释放贝尔加尔。

要求撤换警察局长的呼声日益高涨。

批评人士经常以这类事件为例，说明为什么需要加强警方的监督。

据报道，过去十年间，纽约警察局使用武力的次数有所增加，包括使用武力、部署枪支以及使用电击枪等电击武器。

2025 年报告的武力使用事件有 12,348 起，而 2016 年该部门首次开始收集此类统计数据时，报告的武力使用事件为 4,087 起。

然而，纽约市的犯罪率一直在下降。本月初，该市报告称，今年前九个月和第三季度的枪击事件、枪击受害者和谋杀案数量均创历史新低。

包括谋杀、强奸、重罪袭击和重大盗窃在内的重大犯罪案件在第三季度下降了 9.4%，与去年同期相比下降了 6.6%。

尽管如此，谢瓦利埃和其他进步派政治家仍然批评市警察局领导层授权过度使用武力。他们呼吁警察局长杰西卡·蒂施辞职，蒂施最初是由马姆达尼的前任埃里克·亚当斯任命的。

该专员由市长任命。市长或纽约州州长均可将其免职。

据《大西洋月刊》最近的报道，纽约州州长凯西·霍楚尔将保留蒂施担任警察局长作为她支持马姆达尼参加 2024 年市长选举的条件。

Mamdani 在给该杂志的一份声明中质疑了这种说法，称 Hochul 支持留任 Tisch “更像是一种建议”，而不是一种要求。

纽约市政府发言人告诉半岛电视台，在 10 月 8 日 ICE 枪击事件和随后的抗议活动之前，武力使用审查就已经在进行中。