Jessica Tisch Is Appointed N.Y.P.D. Commissioner

New York|Jessica Tisch, Sanitation Chief, Is Appointed N.Y.P.D. Commissioner

Jessica S. Tisch, the head of the city’s Sanitation Department, has been named the new commissioner of the New York Police Department, Mayor Eric Adams announced on Wednesday.

Mr. Adams announced Ms. Tisch’s appointment at a news conference about the budget. His decision follows the resignation of Edward A. Caban on Sept. 12 and the subsequent appointment of Thomas Donlon on an interim basis.

The announcement came as a surprise after weeks of speculation over who would lead the Police Department permanently. Mr. Adams said that Ms. Tisch would start on Monday, and noted that she would be the second female commissioner.

“I need someone who can take the Police Department into the next century,” Mr. Adams said at City Hall. “I need a visionary.”

Ms. Tisch, 43, has run the Sanitation Department since April 2022, pushing for clean streets as the city emerged from the disruption of the coronavirus pandemic and becoming internet-famous as a scourge of rats. Before that, she held positions throughout city government, including at the Police Department as a deputy commissioner for information technology.

Ms. Tisch said at the news conference that it had been a privilege to lead the Sanitation Department and that she was proud of all it had achieved during her tenure. “I know it has literally taken blood, sweat and tears,” she said.

Ms. Tisch, who is part of a prominent New York family that owns the Loews Corporation conglomerate and co-owns the New York Giants, has a reputation as a demanding boss who is not afraid to rethink how government works. She holds three Harvard degrees, including an M.B.A. and a law degree. She will take over a department that has about 55,000 civilian and uniformed employees, and that has been closely linked to the mayor, a former police captain who appointed several associates to top positions.

Mr. Adams, who was indicted in September on federal corruption charges, and other City Hall officials pressured Mr. Caban to step down, clearing the way for Mr. Donlon and now Ms. Tisch. Federal agents seized Mr. Caban’s cellphone in one of five criminal investigations that have upended City Hall. His lawyers have said that he is not the target of an investigation.

Ms. Tisch is the city’s fourth police commissioner since the mayor took office in January 2022. The last time there were even three police commissioners in a single term was under Mayor James J. Walker, who resigned in 1932 while being investigated for corruption.

Ms. Tisch’s appointment brings to an end the brief tenure of Mr. Donlon, a Bronx native with an extensive background in federal law enforcement, who had led the department as Mr. Adams navigated the scandals engulfing City Hall. Mr. Donlon, 71, had told friends and members of the department that he wanted to stay in the job permanently.

This is a developing story and will be updated.