The NYPD plans to hire 580 additional uniformed officers by the end of the year, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said Monday, revealing an unexpected staffing increase given Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s vow to keep police headcount flat.
Tisch said during a City Council budget hearing that the additional hires would bring the NYPD to 35,555 uniformed officers by the end of the year.
That would be a slightly larger police force than under Mayor Eric Adams, when the number of officers hovered around 35,000 at its peak, according to city budget documents and NYPD press releases.
“That is something to be celebrated, and that is something that we appreciate deeply, especially in a time of general need to cut,” Tisch said.
Two months ago, she told the Council that the NYPD ended 2025 with around 35,000 police officers. Staffing levels at the NYPD tend to fluctuate amid retirements and attrition.
At the time, she said that given the budget constraints, the budgeted headcount of 35,000 was “strong.”
On Monday, she said the newly budgeted positions were included in the mayor’s latest executive budget. Mamdani’s plan calls for slightly less: 35,370 budgeted officers.
Last year was the NYPD’s “most aggressive year in hiring on record,” Tisch said, adding, “We are keeping our foot on the gas this year.”
The announcement was the latest sign of Tisch’s power over a $6.4 billion department that many of Mamdani’s progressive supporters hoped he would rein in. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, which is critical of the NYPD and supported the defund the police movement.
As a state assemblymember in 2022, Mamdani supported reducing police headcount by 1,300 through attrition. As a mayoral candidate, Mamdani spoke about reducing the police’s role in mental health crises and homelessness.
But now, Mamdani has largely deferred to his police commissioner on policing strategy. Enforcement of low-level offenses has intensified under Tisch.
Mamdani has endorsed Tisch’s plan to surge police officers into high-crime neighborhoods this summer, with a focus on the Bronx.
Mamdani also recently approved 12-hour shifts for NYPD officers during part of the World Cup, Politico reported. He campaigned on reducing police overtime spending,
Sam Raskin, a spokesperson for the mayor, described the NYPD’s budgeted headcount as a “moving target” that will “fluctuate throughout the year.” He said the mayor’s office would continue to monitor staffing levels with an eye toward the needs of the department, as well as spending.
Police headcount has long been a politically thorny issue for mayors. Some policing experts have argued that an increase in cops doesn’t necessarily translate into less crime.
Going back to 2021, City Hall has budgeted for around 35,000 uniformed officers, according to a recent City Council analysis. Before leaving office, Adams announced a plan to fund an additional 5,000 officers, but Mamdani scrapped that plan in his preliminary budget in February.
On Monday, the Legal Aid Society accused the mayor of “doubling down on failed policing strategies.”
