NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch cracks down on police misconduct in break from predecessors

NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch has signaled she will be tougher on police officers found guilty of misconduct and has so far followed through, based on her remarks and the penalties imposed.

Just five months into her post, Tisch’s approach marks a break from previous commissioners, including Tom Donlon, Edward Caban and Keechant Sewell. Without naming them directly, she emphasized in a speech this week before the Citizens Crime Commission that she’s holding officers more accountable — a shift that’s being closely watched as a potential turning point for the NYPD and for Mayor Eric Adams’ leadership over it.

“In March, the first full month of our new internal review structure, the NYPD imposed discipline in 100% of substantiated cases prosecuted by the Civilian Complaint Review Board,” she said. “That’s up from 87% in my predecessor’s last month.”

A spokesperson for Tisch did not respond to questions about which of Adams’ three other police commissioners she was referring to.

In her speech, Tisch also pointed to a shift in how the NYPD handles lower-level misconduct, noting “the discipline rate was just 2% in the last month of the previous administration. Now, our rate is 90%.”

Not only has Tisch signaled a greater willingness to discipline officers more frequently, she’s also imposing tougher penalties. In at least four recent cases, she imposed harsher punishments than what departmental trial judges had recommended. She also scrapped a policy that gave minimal consequences for unconstitutional stops, and ended a rule that dismissed hundreds of misconduct cases each year due to statute of limitations issues.

Civil libertarians and police watchdogs have criticized previous NYPD commissioners Caban and Sewell for failing to adequately hold officers accountable for misconduct. New discipline policies under Tisch would mark a potential new chapter in Adams' leadership over the NYPD, where he once served as a police captain.

A spokesperson for Adams did not return messages seeking comment.

Civil rights advocates and some elected officials at times viewed Adams as meddling in the department, especially involving incidents related to officer discipline.

Advocates and civil rights lawyers have said that while Tisch is still early in her tenure, her recent decisions offer reason for optimism and have pressured her to speed up her misconduct decisions. Others have worried her decisions were too narrow and paled in comparison to the department’s ongoing pattern of burying misconduct.

"While it's positive to see the commissioner issued appropriate penalties even when the trial room recommends something lower, this is the first tranche and we want to keep our eyes on what commissioner Tisch is doing in the future," said Andrew Case, a civil rights lawyer with LatinoJustice.

NYPD police commissioners have a large role in doling out discipline.

Officers accused of misconduct face an administrative trial, similar to a traditional courtroom proceeding. A departmental judge hears arguments from lawyers representing both the accuser and the officer.

And after considering the evidence, the trial judge issues an opinion and recommends a penalty, typically measured in “penalty days” which are a combination of lost vacation days or suspension time. The police commissioner then holds final authority and can either accept the recommended penalty or impose more or less severe discipline.

For example, Caban – Adams’ second commissioner – reportedly tossed out hundreds of misconduct cases.

Last month, Tisch revealed two policy changes that apply stiffer penalties against police. In respect to unconstitutional stops, she told members of the City Council she would reverse past practice of only disciplining officers through retraining.

"Virtually all the time for those types of things, the only discipline that we were meeting out was retraining. And that makes our disciplinary system both not fair and not credible," Tisch said at the hearing.

City lawmakers said the practice rarely presented meaningful consequences.

Tisch also said she reversed a past practice of closing departmental misconduct proceedings if cases took too long.

Last year, 890 misconduct complaints were dismissed because of statute of limitations rules, according to the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates the allegations and recommends discipline. Advocates and some councilmembers criticized past commissioners for dragging out certain cases and closing them under statute of limitation rules.

"We are no longer going to be doing blanket closures,” Tisch said. “We are now going to make every effort and attempt to process discipline regardless of when it is received.”

Tisch has so far demonstrated her willingness to take a harder stance against police in four recent cases where she enacted harsher penalties than what the department’s trial judge recommended.

In one recent case, Tisch forced Sgt. Andy Rollins into retirement after he pleaded guilty to getting into a fight while off duty. The trial judge had only recommended loss of vacation and suspension pay.

In her decision letter, Tisch wrote there were several “aggravating factors,” such as Rollins’ prior disciplinary history, physical injuries to his daughter and his position as a supervisor.

Lawyers for Rollins did not return a call seeking comment.

For Officers Lauren Moriarty and Will Rodriguez, who were found guilty of firing their guns at a moving vehicle contrary to NYPD procedure, Tisch imposed 90-day penalties for each of them instead of the 60 days recommended by the departmental judge. Tisch did not explain the reasoning behind this decision.

Calls to the lawyer for Moriarty and Rodriguez were not returned.

In another case, Officer Wesley Wellington was accused of not reporting misconduct of another officer. When the department judge recommended a five-day penalty, Tisch doubled it to 10 days, again without explanation.

Willington’s lawyer said he was appealing Tisch’s decision, but declined to comment further.

Tisch also followed recommendations to terminate Officers Kevin Marcial and Paul Zangrilli, and to force a third officer, Eric Collazo, into retirement.

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry said Tisch has only made a small number of decisions so far.

"Our expectation is that the police commissioner and her team will apply basic fairness rather than one-size-fits-all punishment, with individualized decisions that consider past precedent, the unique facts of the case and the officers' record of service,” he said. “That is all we ever ask for in the disciplinary realm, but we will accept nothing less."

Eric Sanders, a lawyer who frequently sues the department on behalf of officers, said nothing has changed under Tisch's leadership.

"There are lots of cases that never get official charges, they get resolved without even going into the trial room,” he said. “There's cases that are not making it to the police commissioner's office because people are not being formally charged.”

Advocates said they were particularly watchful of the case of Johnathan Rivera, an officer who fatally shot a man in the chest during a 2019 traffic stop. A departmental judge recommended firing him despite his vigorous defense that the shooting was justified.

On Thursday, protesters with the advocacy group Justice Committee disrupted a speech Tisch was delivering at New York Law School to demand she follow a departmental judge’s recommendation and fire Rivera.

Others said they were not impressed with Tisch’s record so far.

Garry McCarthy, a former NYPD deputy commissioner who served under three commissioners, said he wanted to see more of her decisions before passing judgment. However, he said he was concerned that Tisch may be taking too narrow a view of what could be a one-time mistake by an officer.

“ It's not as clear as balls and strikes as we'd like it to be,” he said.

“Let's say somebody has a 20-year stellar career,” he said. “That person should be treated differently than somebody who's got four years on the job and five complaints.”

This story has been updated with new information.