Zohran Mamdani orders use-of-force review for New York City police

What the report says

New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani has ordered the city’s police department to undergo a use-of-force review, the first such review in about a decade, according to Al Jazeera. The city also said on Monday it will introduce a broader set of reforms aimed at improving accountability when officers face serious misconduct allegations.

The announcement comes as Mamdani faces pressure from progressives who want tighter oversight of the New York Police Department, especially its Strategic Response Group, a rapid-response unit that handles protests and major disturbances. The city’s proposal includes $2.6m in extra funding for the Office of the Inspector General, plus steps to make sure disciplinary hearings are finished before an officer retires and to improve compliance with state reporting rules on police-involved deaths.

Al Jazeera reported that the reforms follow the retirement of an officer linked to the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Win Rozario in 2024 during a reported mental health crisis. Progressives have also criticized the NYPD’s response to protests after an October 8 ICE shooting in the Bronx area of New York, in which ICE officers shot 28-year-old Oscar Belgal while he was in an SUV with his five-year-old son. A city spokesperson said the use-of-force review was planned before that shooting and the demonstrations that followed.

The issue matters because reported NYPD use-of-force incidents have risen over the past decade, even as overall crime in New York City has recently fallen. That contrast has kept policing reform and commissioner oversight at the center of city politics.