No city service is more important than law enforcement, so it's great to see former Sanitation Commissioner Jessica Tisch give the NYPD's cleanup efforts an encouraging start as its new boss.
Even before the bombshell overtime sex scandal broke last week, it was painfully clear that police stations needed a major clean-up.
And Tisch, who was nominated by Mayor Adams and sworn in just a month ago, is already undergoing intense training with a broom.
Last weekend alone, she transferred 29 officers to new jobs, including 16 who made more than $100,000 in OT last year.
She accepted the resignation of Chief Jeffrey Madeley, the military's highest-ranking uniformed officer. The manager resigned after the Post exposed allegations that he had solicited sexual favors from subordinates in exchange for overtime pay.
Mr. Tisch also removed Interior Director Michael Yglesias for ignoring requests to investigate Mr. Madrid's OT abuses, particularly the overtime pay he gave to Lt. Gov. Quatisha Epps.
Epps now claims that Madley forced her to perform sex acts in exchange.
However, her overtime pay itself was an outrageous scandal. As the Post reported, she earned a whopping $400,000 in overtime pay ($204,000 in OT) last year. administrative Work in an office in Madrid.
Mr. Tisch also fired two senior drivers over concerns about OT and expelled a press secretary who once called a Post reporter a “shithole.”
All of this came after his predecessor, Eddie Caban, resigned amid a federal investigation into whether police had warned nightclubs associated with the ex-cop's brother about inspections.
Additionally, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phillip Banks, who oversaw the police department, also resigned amid the federal investigation.
As a result of these scandals and turnover, the department is in “a huge mess,” according to one former chief.
Meanwhile, a corruption investigation at City Hall resulted in the arrest of the mayor himself and several senior officials.
Tisch's job is to organize the NYPD so it can focus on its primary mission: reducing crime.
Remember, while the number of felonies is still up 30% from 2019, the smell of marijuana wafting in every public place (and thousands of unlicensed drug stores) means that more and more people are on the street. All signs of disorder are rampant, from lounging “asylum seekers” to crazy loons walking the streets, while toothpaste and all that stuff is kept in the drugstore.
Thank God for the state's disastrous criminal justice “reforms,” de Blasio's radical expansion of “sanctuary city” protections (among other brass failures), and the prevalence of woke prosecutors and judges. and This is the work of a city council that is thoroughly anti-police.
Mr. Adams was elected on a promise to prioritize public safety, but the NYPD's leadership turmoil and scandals have further eroded public morale, and even as bullets have been handed to the police's enemies, Albany… There has been little success in waking up cities and city councils to reality. — All of which makes fighting crime even more difficult.
This is Tish's chance. She is “in charge” of the NYPD and is trying to end the out-of-control atmosphere, one law enforcement official told the Post.
“Things are different now than they were when I was a commissioner.” [Keechant] Sewell, Cavan; [Thomas] Donlon,” the source added. “The mayor is not going to protect anyone and no one is safe.”
Listen, listen.
New Yorkers should support Tisch's proactive approach.
It won't be possible to right this ship right away.
