Mamdani Rolls Out Police Reforms Related to Use of Force
New York Times · LC · trust 20/100
The changes follow the retirement of an officer who was facing a disciplinary trial for the death of 19-year-old Win Rozario in 2024.
Listen · 4:52 min Share full article “When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest,” Mayor Zohran Mamdani said. “Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary.” Credit... Anna Connors for The New York Times By Miles G. Cohen
Mr. Mamdani also ordered the police to conduct a review of their use-of-force policies, which were central to an oversight board’s decision to recommend excessive force charges against the officer, Salvatore Alongi, in the death of the 19-year-old Win Rozario in 2024.
“When the government uses force against a New Yorker, the standard for accountability must be at its highest,” Mr. Mamdani said in a statement. “Every New Yorker deserves to know that force will be used lawfully, carefully and only when necessary.”
The announcement on Monday came as Mr. Mamdani has faced criticism from his base for not doing enough to transform public safety — a pledge he made during his mayoral campaign.
Tensions flared further last week as the Democratic Socialists of America called on the mayor to fire Jessica S. Tisch, the police commissioner, after the shooting of a Dominican man in the Bronx by federal immigration agents. Federal officials said the man, Oscar Belgal, had a string of arrests and “indirect or direct knowledge” of a shooting that injured an off-duty customs officer in Manhattan in July 2025. Mr. Belgal accelerated when the agents approached his vehicle, they added.
The new measures, the mayor’s office said, were a response to Mr. Rozario’s killing and the department’s failure to notify the review board responsible for prosecuting his case that he was on the path to retirement.
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