Jessica Tisch to become 2nd woman to lead NYPD

NEW YORK (PIX11) – Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch will become the top cop in New York City on Monday.

She's the second woman to ever be the NYPD commissioner. Tisch's first job with the city was 16 years ago when she joined the NYPD Counterterrorism Bureau as a planning and policy director after 9/11.

She helped deploy mobile radiation detectors and a digital sharing tool for surveillance cameras and license plate readers.

Then, as the deputy commissioner for NYPD Information Technology, Tisch launched body cameras and smartphones. She also introduced a gunshot-detection system and worked with the city's transit agency to make police radios work in the subway.

"I'm a mother, I have two young kids," she said. "I was born and raised in New York City and I'm raising my kids in New York City… I see my job come Monday as keeping their kids safe as I keep my own kids safe."

The NYPD has seen its lowest level of staffing in more than three decades. Tisch emphasized that a top priority for her is keeping the 34,000 police officers in the department safe with new training and technology.

She graduated from Harvard and was born to a prominent family whose last name is on buildings across the city, including the namesake of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts.

Tom Donlon, the interim NYPD commissioner, will be staying in the Adams administration as the deputy mayor of public safety.