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NYPD will add nearly 200 officers, expand specialized units in the Bronx
By
Ben Feuerherd
Published May 20, 2026
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Photo by CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP via Getty Images
By
Ben Feuerherd
Published May 20, 2026
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The NYPD will add nearly 200 police officers to the Bronx and expand specialized units in the borough, Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch said at a press conference Wednesday.
The police department will also split the Bronx into two separate borough commands, matching the structure of Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, they said at the press conference.
“This year, auto theft is down, shootings are down, murders are down,” Mamdani said at the press conference, which was also attended by Gov. Kathy Hochul and other local officials. “We will build on that progress, not by surrendering our momentum, but by pursuing the proven solutions we know to work.”
Tisch said additional officers and the restructuring in the Bronx is needed because the workload placed on officers in the borough has grown. In 2025, there were nearly one million 911 calls in the Bronx, the highest out of any borough in the city, she said.
As part of a summer public safety plan, the department is also deploying more than 2600 uniformed officers to “walk the beat” in 72 zones across the five boroughs at night and early morning in an effort to curtail crime in those areas, Mamdani said.
“That means, more officers on footposts, more resources in parks at beaches and in the neighborhoods that need them most,” Tisch said of the deployment, adding that the department has already seen major crime in those zones drop significantly.
Tisch said the NYPD is formally launching two separate patrol boroughs in the Bronx, one in the northside of the borough and the second in the south.
Under the new structure, the two separate commands will have their own specialized units, including homicide squads, narcotics teams, neighborhood safety teams and auto-crime units.
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Politics
bronx
nypd
public safety
Ben Feuerherd
Ben Feuerherd covers public safety and policing for WNYC and Gothamist. He previously covered federal courts for The New York Post and The Messenger. His work has also appeared in POLITICO, the Daily Beast and NBC New York. Got a tip? Email [email protected].
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