The NYPD’s top lawyer on Monday touted Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch’s record on handling civilian complaints in the face of sharp criticism from the City Council.
Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters Michael Gerber said Tisch has essentially stopped closing substantiated cases that come in just before the 18-month statute of limitations expires — something that was done 800 times prior to her tenure.
He said Tisch, who did not attend the hearing, has “retained” or kept certain complaints out of Civilian Complaint Review Board hands just 24 times this year — compared with 93 cases that were retained in 2024 by her and former commissioner Edward Caban.
Gerber said the department is now agreeing more with CCRB disciplinary findings — 76% in 2025 compared with 30% in 2024 — and is imposing discipline much faster, roughly double the rate it did in 2024.
He added that Tisch is on pace to terminate more officers in 2025: she’s fired 48 through Monday, with more than three months left in the year, than in all of 2024, when 46 were fired, or 2023, when 63 got booted.
“The department’s disciplinary system must be fair and effective, and under Commissioner Tisch the department is taking wide-ranging steps to meet those goals,” Gerber declared.
Council Member Lincoln Restler countered, however, that the number of civilian complaints has risen 60% since Mayor Adams took office.
“We’ve seen the number of civil summons dramatically increase, the number of criminal summons, the number of arrests, the number of incarcerated people dramatically increase,” Restler said. “There’s no question the NYPD has shifted their approach to policing in this administration and as a result more people are complaining about misconduct.”
Jonathan Darche, executive director of the Civilian Complaint Review Board, said the NYPD has made “significant strides in” turning over records in a timely manner, but that his agency still needs more access to police databases and body worn camera video.
CCRB chairman Dr. Mohammad Khalid said the agency wants final disciplinary authority — a power currently held by the police commissioner under the city charter.
The department also faced criticism Monday over a recent spate of deaths in custody, and a controversial decision by Tisch to clear a lieutenant who fatally shot an unarmed civilian in the Bronx in 2019.
Tisch absolved Lt. Jonathan Rivera of killing Allan Feliz in a traffic stop after an NYPD judge had ruled he should be fired and after the CCRB pressed for him to be fired.
“Why should the judgment of the police commissioner be substituted for that of the deputy commissioner of trials who is the fact finder?” Council Member Tiffany Caban said.
Gerber cited the city charter and insisted Tisch looked very carefully at the evidence in making the decision.
“The message to New Yorkers is that there is no accountability and we cannot rely on Police Commissioner Tisch to police the police,” said Council Member Carmen De La Rosa. “That was her test and unfortunately she failed.”
On the in-custody deaths, Gerber disclosed the city Department of Investigation is conducting a probe.
Claire Thomas, a public defender, recounted her experience at the Brooklyn courthouse Aug. 29 with her client Christopher Nieves, who died in a holding cell later that night. He had been arrested for shoplifting food.
“I immediately realized he wasn’t well. His skin was a sickly yellow color. He was disoriented, and he told me he had just been in the hospital being treated for a staph infection,” Thomas said at the hearing. “He was very clearly in pain. I wanted to ensure he would go to the hospital. … He was lying on the ground on his side. A few people told me they were worried about him because he kept passing out.”
Thomas said she expected he would be taken to the hospital. Close to midnight, a female police officer appeared and asked for his case file. As the officer left, she “made a gesture of cutting her throat,” Thomas said. “She didn’t say anything else, she just walked away.”
Thomas learned the next day that Nieves was dead.
“Mr. Nieves died alone in his cell, hours after he and I both requested he receive medical attention,” Thomas asserted, charging: “The NYPD refused to give him medical attention.”
