N.Y. mayor orders NYPD to review use of force policy, adds $2.6M for police oversight office

NEW YORK — New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani directed the NYPD to conduct its first comprehensive review of its use-of-force policy in a decade and announced several policy updates.

Mamdani ordered the review after one of the officers involved in a 2024 shooting of a man lunging at officers with scissors was allowed to retire before an investigation was complete. The department cited “human error” in the preemptive retirement, which should have been paused by a civilian employee flagging the officer’s ongoing case.

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Family members of the man killed in the case, Win Rozario, as well as Mamdani himself, have stated that Rozario was in the midst of a mental health crisis when he wielded the scissors at officers, CBS New York reported. Body camera video from the incident shows officers at the scene deploying TASERs before firing shots at Rozario.

“When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest,” Mamdani stated. “The administration is rolling out a package of reforms, including implementing a new notification system to ensure disciplinary processes are completed before an officer retires. The NYPD will standardize how it shares information with families and the public following critical incidents.”

In addition to the use-of-force policy review, Mamdani announced several policy updates, including:

• Oversight funding: A $2.6 million funding increase for the NYPD’s Office of the Inspector General, which would enable the agency to triple the staff overseeing misconduct investigations.
• Retirement notifications: The NYPD has implemented a new notification system so disciplinary processes can be completed before an officer retires.
• Decertification referrals: The department will formalize its existing practice of notifying the State Division of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS) and submitting personnel information for decertification when an officer retires with pending disciplinary charges. The city said this will help keep officers who leave while facing serious charges from being hired by another New York law enforcement agency.
• STAT Act compliance: The NYPD will remain in full and timely compliance with its obligation to report police-involved death data to DCJS.
• Information sharing after critical incidents: The NYPD will standardize how it shares information with the public and with the families of people killed or seriously injured in critical incidents. That includes releasing Force Investigation Division final reports to families or their representatives on request.

New York PBA president Patrick Hendry stated that the NYPD’s civilian review board had investigated officers improperly.

“We have brought several examples of CCRB’s dysfunction and anti-police bias to the attention of the mayor and his team, and we’ve seen zero meaningful action in those areas,” Hendry stated. “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.”