Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch Appointed NYPD Commissioner

Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Jessica Tisch as the new commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD), making her the second woman ever to hold the position after Keechant Sewell.

Tisch, who worked for the NYPD for 12 years and has served as commissioner of the New York City Department of Sanitation (DSNY) since April 2022, will begin her new role Nov. 25, Adams announced Wednesday. (Sewell resigned in June 2023, and Tisch will take over from interim police commissioner Thomas Donlon.) 

Tisch, who holds three degrees from Harvard, is also no stranger to the real estate world — her father James Tisch is president and CEO of Loews Corporation, which includes Loews Hotels.

“I’ve seen firsthand the profound nobility of the policing profession, and I was proud to work shoulder to shoulder with both uniformed members and civilians to propel the NYPD into the next century of technological advancement,” Tisch said in a statement. “I thank Mayor Adams for the tremendous honor to now lead the NYPD, and I understand the solemnity of this great responsibility.”

In her role as DSNY commissioner, Tisch worked to clean up trash off the city’s streets by launching an innovative composting program, modernizing street sweeping and bag collection, and taking action to combat the city’s rat problem, partly by forbidding trash bags on the sidewalk before 8 p.m. on the day before collection.

In addition, under her initiative “Trash Revolution,” 70 percent of trash is now required to be stored in containers rather than loose bags, and a weekly curbside composting service has been rolled out to millions of residents, the NYPD announcement said.

Now, Tisch will turn her focus toward lowering crime rates in the city, which have dropped across all five boroughs for the 10th straight month as of October, according to Adams’s announcement.

“To ensure New Yorkers have the ability to thrive in our city, we need a strong, battle-tested leader who will continue to drive down crime and ensure New Yorkers are safe and feel safe, and I cannot think of a leader more up to the task than Commissioner Jessica Tisch,” Adams said in a statement.

Isabelle Durso can be reached at idurso@commercialobserver.com.