NEW YORK — Mayor Zohran Mamdani promised on the campaign trail to drastically change the way New York City handles policing — but nearly six months in, his administration has made little progress and even backed away from some of those pledges, as friction between Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch trickles into public view and cracks emerge between the mayor and his base.

On Friday, the New York City Democratic Socialists of America — an organization that represents Mamdani’s core base — denounced his administration’s move to grow the city’s police headcount in a rare public rebuke.mIncreasing the number of NYPD officers by 580 “runs counter to the values of the socialist and working-class movement that elected him,” the organization said in a statement.

When pressed by the Daily News last week, the mayor didn’t commit to keeping the department’s headcount flat for the remainder of his term.

Tisch revealed the total number of additional hires at a hearing last week, when she also informed the City Council that there was little progress being made toward Mamdani’s vows to divert police from mental health responses. Mamdani’ has also distanced himself from his previous stance of totally doing away with the controversial gang database.

And while on the campaign trail, Mamdani expressed support for giving the Civilian Complaint Review Board final say on disciplinary decisions, he backed down from that stance right after announcing he’d decided to ask Tisch to stay on under his future administration.

Political odd couple

Mamdani and Tisch are somewhat of a political odd couple — the commissioner has made no secret of her more moderate views, and she was appointed by ex-Mayor Adams, whose influence Mamdani has sought to scrub from his own City Hall.

The mayor announced he’d keep Tisch on the eve of win general election victory last year, when many moderate and wealthy New Yorkers were irying to stifle his candidacy and concerns about his comments from 2020 calling the NYPD “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety” were reaching a head. Tisch’s presence in the top ranks of his administration presented some reassurance to some of those voters.

So far, a somewhat uneasy peace appears to be holding. Mamdani has largely stayed clear of the police department as crime has stayed down with no major public safety crises, a critical issue for any mayor irrespective of political party.

But Robert Gangi, founder of the Police Reform Organizing Project, voiced disappointment in the mayor’s approach, citing the rising headcount and NYPD arrest practices impact on communitoes of color. Gangi said he hopes that Mamdani will prioritize implementing those changes going forward, adding that “we plan to do whatever we can to put pressure on him.”

“She’s calling all the plays,” he said of Tisch. “So we’re very disappointed and very critical,” Gangi said.

While Mamdani either hasn’t made much progress on or inched away from many of his campaign promises, he did earlier this year announce the Office of Community Safety, a scaled-down version of the Department of Community Safety he said he would create.

With crime on a general downward trend, the mayor has also put more emphasis on other arms of his agenda, including free childcare and city-owned grocery stores — and pushing for Albany to sign off on tax hikes on the wealthy.

Mamdani’s approach could also be more of a tactical shift than a retreat from his campaign promises, said Christina Greer, a political science professor at Fordham University.

“It’s the NYPD. They’re not really interested in change,” she said. “Abandonment is one thing, but delays are to be expected with the largest paramilitary organization in the country.”

Some factors — that crime has hit historic lows as Tisch has headed the department and Mamdani’s relative lack of action in the police department — have staved off criticism from moderates.

Mamdani in an interview last week with WNYC, defended his reversal on the NYPD headcount, saying it was necessary because of an added patrol borough in the Bronx with 200 new officers and a decision to add to police academy training requirements necessitated the increase.

“Because of these two issues, we saw there’s a slight increase in the budgeted headcount, and that is as a result of both of these,” the mayor said.

At a press conference announcing the new patrol borough last month, Mamdani celebrated the additional cops and new borough command as “proven solutions” to bringing crime down.

Leftward flanks of his support continue to call on Mamdani to drop Tisch — a call that was re-upped earlier this month by Nerdeen Kiswani, the founder of pro-Palestine organization Within Our Lifetime, on social media after issuing a petition last year pushing for Mamdani to lose her as police commissioner.

“He really does (need to fire her),” Kiswani wrote on social media, urging others to sign onto the petition.

And Phil Desgranges, an attorney with Legal Aid, said last week that the increasing headcount was an example of the Mamdani administration “doubling down on failed policing strategies.”

Navigating his relationship with the NYPD is among the many challenges Mamdani faces in bringing his democratic socialist politics to the vast machine of city government. For now, at least, he’s walking a fine line.

“I don’t think we’ll see them publicly disagreeing on matters too much,” said a city councilmember who spoke on condition of anonymity. “But the way they carry themselves when together in public gives me the impression that their relationship is strained.”

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