April 10, 2026 | New York City
When Zohran Mamdani entered the New York City mayoral race in 2025, many dismissed him as a long shot. A democratic socialist state lawmaker running on sweeping promises to reform the NYPD — could he actually transform America’s largest police force? Voters gave him the chance.
But one hundred days into his tenure, when you sit down to tally the results, the picture looks considerably more complicated than the campaign trail suggested.
The promises were ambitious. He would abolish the controversial gang database. He would dismantle the SWAT-style unit criticized for overly aggressive tactics. He would eliminate the so-called “quality of life” units that critics argued disproportionately targeted Black and Hispanic New Yorkers. And he would shift the final authority over disciplining bad cops away from the police commissioner and into the hands of a civilian oversight body.
One hundred days later, most of those promises have either been quietly walked back or remain vague in terms of how and when they will actually be delivered.
What Mamdani Has Done
What he has done is also worth acknowledging. He appointed a Deputy Mayor for Community Safety for the first time — a first step toward his promised new department designed to send mental health specialists rather than police officers to relevant 911 calls. He codified a policy requiring the NYPD to release body camera footage within thirty days of what City Hall calls “critical incidents.” And the previous administration’s practice of issuing criminal summonses for low-level e-bike and cyclist violations has been ended.
The crime numbers, on the surface at least, look encouraging. During Mamdani’s first hundred days, murders dropped 24 percent compared to the same period last year, and shootings fell 20 percent. Most major crimes are down — with the notable exception of rape, which rose 8 percent, a figure that warrants serious attention.
City Hall spokesperson Sam Raskin insists the administration is “moving with urgency” and that things are just getting started.
Three Sides, Three Kinds of Discontent
But three very different constituencies are expressing three very different forms of frustration — and all three matter.
First, the New York Civil Liberties Union. The organization supports Mamdani’s reform agenda but is impatient with the pace. Assistant Policy Director Michael Sisitzky described the challenge of fixing the NYPD’s pre-existing problems as a “herculean task” — and stressed that the mayor has inherited a deeply entrenched set of institutional problems
that did not develop overnight.
Second, the Police Benevolent Association, the police union. They are quietly relieved that Mamdani’s most dramatic campaign pledges have not been acted upon, but suspicion runs deep. PBA President Patrick Hendry said officers still carry the perception that this administration will not have their backs when it matters. He acknowledged, however, that the mayor still has time to change that impression — and has not yet squandered the opportunity.
Third, the Democratic Socialists of America, or DSA — the organization that helped put Mamdani in City Hall in the first place. They are unhappy with his decision to reappoint Police Commissioner Jessica
Tisch, whom public defenders describe as having opposed many criminal justice reforms. Susan Kang, a political science professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice and a longtime DSA member, acknowledged the frustration within the movement but argued that Mamdani’s more measured approach will ultimately produce better results. Her explanation cuts to
the heart of the tension: “The DSA works outside of institutions. A mayor works within institutions — so he has a different set of goals.”
From Defund to Reform
Mamdani’s relationship with the NYPD is long, complicated and evolving. In 2020, following the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, he repeatedly called for defunding the police — a position he later retracted. His decision to retain Commissioner Tisch represents another chapter in that ongoing transformation from activist to administrator.
On the gang database, the disagreement between mayor and commissioner is clear. Tisch has consistently defended the database as a critical public safety tool. Mamdani has expressed a different view. But in an interview published Thursday by the New York Times, Mamdani made his authority plain — he will overrule the police commissioner when he believes it is necessary to advance reforms, because ultimately, as mayor, he is
responsible for every city agency and department.
What One Hundred Days Actually Tells Us
One hundred days is not a verdict on a mayoralty. But it is a signal. And the signal in Mamdani’s case is this: a reform-minded leader has stepped inside the machinery of city government and is discovering, as so many before him have discovered, that the distance between a campaign promise and an institutional reality is far wider than it looks from the
outside.
The big promises remain unfulfilled. The smaller steps are moving. Crime is falling, though whether to attribute that to new policies or other factors remains genuinely debatable.
The police union is skeptical. The reformers are impatient. And Mamdani himself says this is just the beginning.
New York City is watching.
