Mamdani orders first NYPD use-of-force review in a decade, adds $2.6m for police inspector general

Mixed · 2New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ordered the NYPD on Monday 12 October 2026 to carry out its first use-of-force review in a decade. 1 2 Mixed · 2He also announced an extra $2.6 million for the Office of the Inspector General for the NYPD, an independent body that examines the department's policies and operations; the funding is expected to triple its headcount. 1 2 Mixed · 2The directive follows the decision to let one of the officers involved in the fatal shooting of Win Rozario, 19, retire before his disciplinary trial, which outraged Rozario's family. 1 2

Left · 1Al Jazeera described the package as meant to "strengthen accountability when police officers are accused of serious misconduct", and said it follows pressure on Mamdani from progressives for police reform. 3 Mixed · 2Rozario was shot in March 2024 after police responded to a 911 call at his home in Ozone Park, Queens; body camera footage showed him charging at officers with scissors after two Taser attempts, while his mother and brother begged police not to shoot. 1 2 Mixed · 2Officers Matthew Cianfrocco and Salvatore Alongi fired their weapons, and Rozario died at hospital; state Attorney General Letitia James decided in December 2025 not to bring criminal charges, though the officers remained subject to internal discipline. 1 2

Mixed · 2Mamdani said in a statement: "When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest," and that the city has "an obligation to Win’s family and to every New Yorker who calls for help in a moment of crisis." 1 2 Centre · 1According to the Times of India, the review will examine whether policies adequately guide officers on use of force, include community engagement and assess training for critical incidents. 2 Centre · 1The Times of India also lists further measures: a notification system to help ensure disciplinary proceedings finish before officers retire, formal notification to the state when officers retire facing charges to keep them from joining other New York agencies, and release of Force Investigation Division final reports to families on request. 2

Left · 1Al Jazeera reported that 17 state-level politicians and nominees, including congressional candidates Claire Valdez and Darializa Avila Chevalier, had called earlier in October for the NYPD's Strategic Response Group to be disbanded over its deployment at protests after an ICE officer shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal in Marble Hill on 8 October, and that some progressives want Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch to step down. 3 Left · 1A City Hall spokesperson told Al Jazeera the use-of-force review was already in the works before the 8 October ICE shooting and the protests that followed. 3 Left · 1Al Jazeera also cited figures of 12,348 reported use-of-force incidents in 2025, up from 4,087 in 2016, while the city reported record-low shootings and murders in the first nine months of the year. 3