By MES Dispatch Staff
The Briefing
- NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch testified at a New York City Council budget hearing on June 2, 2026, that the department expects to hire more than 550 new uniformed officers by the end of the calendar year.
- The projected hires would bring total NYPD uniformed strength to approximately 35,555 — exceeding the department’s peak headcount under former Mayor Eric Adams and placing the force roughly 18 months ahead of City Hall’s executive budget projections.
- The hiring pace puts the department above the headcount target set by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who had pledged during his campaign to hold NYPD headcount flat and did not include staffing increases in his February preliminary budget.
- Through the current calendar year, the department has recorded 1,084 hires compared to 896 separations; in calendar year 2025, hires outpaced separations by more than 750 positions.
- A legal advocacy organization publicly criticized the staffing increase, characterizing it as contrary to promised policing reforms.
NEW YORK, N.Y. — New York City Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch testified before the City Council on June 2, 2026, that the NYPD is on track to add more than 550 uniformed officers by the end of the calendar year — a pace that would push departmental strength to 35,555 sworn officers and place the force ahead of both the mayor’s stated headcount goals and City Hall’s own budget projections.
Tisch made the announcement during a City Council budget hearing, framing the hiring momentum as a significant reversal following what she described as a prior period of recruitment difficulties. In 2025, the department hired 4,115 officers while recording 3,357 separations — the first year in recent memory that hires outpaced attrition by that margin. Through the first portion of 2026, the department has continued that trend, with 1,084 hires compared to 896 separations and attrition running approximately 4.7% below the prior year’s pace. “After experiencing a hiring crisis, we are also seeing a resurgence in policing as a profession,” Tisch said in her prepared remarks.
The projected headcount increase stands in contrast to the public position of Mayor Zohran Mamdani, who stated during his mayoral campaign that he intended to hold NYPD staffing flat and did not propose any increase in uniformed headcount in his February preliminary budget. A spokesperson for the mayor, Sam Raskin, acknowledged the gap, stating that NYPD headcount fluctuates throughout the fiscal year and will at times fall above or below authorized levels as a result. Mamdani, who appointed Tisch to continue in the commissioner role she held under former Mayor Adams, has moderated several of his earlier policing positions since taking office.
Tisch characterized the staffing growth as a development worthy of recognition given broader pressures on the city budget. “That is something to be celebrated — and that is something that we appreciate deeply — especially in a time of general need to cut,” she told council members.
The announcement drew criticism from at least one outside stakeholder. Phil Desgranges, an attorney with Legal Aid, said in a statement that increasing the NYPD’s headcount represented a continuation of what he characterized as failed policing strategies and argued that the resources would have been better directed toward the mayor’s Office of Community Safety. No further official comment on the specific staffing figures was provided by the mayor’s office as of the time of publication.