New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani announced a comprehensive review of the New York Police Department's use-of-force practices on Monday – the first such review in a decade.
"When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest. Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary," the Mayor's statement said.
The city also announced several efforts to improve oversight and accountability of the department.
The NYPD review comes after an officer, facing excessive force charges for a fatal shooting in 2024, was able to retire before disciplinary proceedings.
Officers fatally shot Win Rozario, a 19-year-old who had called emergency services seeking help. He was reportedly experiencing a mental health crisis when he approached responding officers with a pair of scissors. Rozario was shot five times.
A report prepared by the New York Attorney General's office in 2025 was critical of the police actions but the office did not pursue criminal charges against the officers. The police oversight board, the Civilian Complaint Review Board, recommended internal disciplinary action, but one of the officers who shot Rozario retired before proceedings could begin, angering the family.
"We have an obligation to Win's family and to every New Yorker who calls for help in a moment of crisis," the Mayor's statement said.
"This review is about making sure our policies reflect that responsibility, that our officers have the guidance and training they need and that New Yorkers and their families can trust their city will treat them with care and dignity."
The mayor's office said it would increase funding to the Office of the Inspector General by $2.6 million. The police will also formalize reporting procedures in the aftermath of use-of-force-related incidents to improve transparency, the statement said.
The union representing 21,000 of New York's police officers pushed back on the mayor's announcement. Patrick Hendry, the union president, said the police oversight board has a record of anti-police bias that he's brought to the attention of the mayor's office, to no avail.
"There should be no review of the NYPD's use-of-force policies without a corresponding review of the blatantly biased and unjust way those policies are interpreted by the Civilian Complaint Review Board," Hendry said in a statement issued Monday. "The mayor's radical base wants a wholesale dismantling of the NYPD, and it's clear this announcement is an attempt to appease them. It won't work, and it won't make New Yorkers any safer."
NPR reached out to the mayor's office about Hendry's accusations of anti-police bias but there has been no response.
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