NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch highlights arrest of alleged UnitedHealthcare shooter in State of the NYPD speech
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NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch speaks at her first State of the NYPD on Thursday morning. Credit: Ed Quinn
New NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said she was feeling frustrated in the five days after UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan Dec. 4 and police still had no leads on the suspect.
Her chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, told her in a meeting that DNA and fingerprint testing on items connected to the shooting had failed to come up with any matches in the federal or state DNA databases.
Hearing that, Tisch said, she slumped back in her chair on the 14th floor at police headquarters at 1 Police Plaza in lower Manhattan, turned to Kenny and asked what was next. Kenny outlined what options remained and held out hope that somebody, somewhere might recognize the suspect.
"Chief, you are telling me we could get this guy six months from now, or five minutes from now?" Tisch recounted Thursday at the annual State of the NYPD address. The event, hosted by the nonprofit New York City Police Foundation, is where commissioners give their assessment on the state of the department.
Thompson's slaying happened just days after Tisch had become the new police commissioner and it quickly became the biggest case the department had handled recently, captivating people's attention in New York City, the country and overseas. It also quickly turned into a multistate hunt for a suspected killer that had left images and DNA behind for investigators of the nation's largest police force to analyze.
The dragnet ended on Dec. 9, when an attentive patron at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, recognized the photos the NYPD had disseminated throughout the media and social media, and the suspected shooter, Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested, charged and brought back to New York City.
On Thursday, Tisch recognized the two detectives who worked round-the-clock in the hunt for Mangione: Lt. Det. Frank Gandiosi, of Suffolk County, and Lt. James Curcio, of Nassau County. Both work out of the Midtown North detective squad. Gandiosi is a 17-year veteran of the force and Curcio an 11-year veteran.
"These guys didn’t go home to their families and barely slept for five days," Tisch told the crowd of business people, law enforcement officials, as well as Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul. Tisch also recognized the two uniformed officers from Altoona who had made the actual arrest: Joseph Detwiler and Tyler Frye.
In her speech, Tisch — who was appointed as commissioner in December by Adams — also outlined new initiatives she will be pursuing to push down serious crime. Among them are a renewed focus on quality-of-life offenses, which Tisch said contributed to a feeling among New Yorkers that the city is out of control. She also is using data analysis to focus police resources not just on precincts but on particular zones and streets in the city where crime is highest.
"The idea behind zone-based policing is to quite literally flood the zone," with officers going to streets and areas where they are needed, Tisch said.
To combat random acts of violence in the subways, Tisch said officers will be addressing situations immediately and getting mentally ill or troubled people services they need.
"Our subway trains and platforms are not homeless shelters, they are not psychiatric hospitals," Tisch said to applause.
To help officers in handling distressed people, Tisch said she was expanding crisis intervention training in the police academy.
While serious crimes have decreased in the last year, a trend continuing so far in 2025, Tisch said the police are still saddled with prosecutors who are declining to prosecute some crimes. She also said that recidivists are driving many of the crimes.
"Recidivism is getting worse in New York City," Tisch explained, noting that there has been a surge in suspects arrested three or more times for the same crime in the same year.
To deal with the problem, Tisch said she and City Hall are coming up with proposals to ask for changes in the discovery laws that she said were — because of strict case legal time limits — leading to cases being dismissed.
New NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said she was feeling frustrated in the five days after UnitedHealthcare executive Brian Thompson was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan Dec. 4 and police still had no leads on the suspect.
Her chief of detectives, Joseph Kenny, told her in a meeting that DNA and fingerprint testing on items connected to the shooting had failed to come up with any matches in the federal or state DNA databases.
Hearing that, Tisch said, she slumped back in her chair on the 14th floor at police headquarters at 1 Police Plaza in lower Manhattan, turned to Kenny and asked what was next. Kenny outlined what options remained and held out hope that somebody, somewhere might recognize the suspect.
"Chief, you are telling me we could get this guy six months from now, or five minutes from now?" Tisch recounted Thursday at the annual State of the NYPD address. The event, hosted by the nonprofit New York City Police Foundation, is where commissioners give their assessment on the state of the department.
Thompson's slaying happened just days after Tisch had become the new police commissioner and it quickly became the biggest case the department had handled recently, captivating people's attention in New York City, the country and overseas. It also quickly turned into a multistate hunt for a suspected killer that had left images and DNA behind for investigators of the nation's largest police force to analyze.
The dragnet ended on Dec. 9, when an attentive patron at a McDonald's in Altoona, Pennsylvania, recognized the photos the NYPD had disseminated throughout the media and social media, and the suspected shooter, Luigi Mangione, 26, was arrested, charged and brought back to New York City.
On Thursday, Tisch recognized the two detectives who worked round-the-clock in the hunt for Mangione: Lt. Det. Frank Gandiosi, of Suffolk County, and Lt. James Curcio, of Nassau County. Both work out of the Midtown North detective squad. Gandiosi is a 17-year veteran of the force and Curcio an 11-year veteran.
"These guys didn’t go home to their families and barely slept for five days," Tisch told the crowd of business people, law enforcement officials, as well as Mayor Eric Adams and Gov. Kathy Hochul. Tisch also recognized the two uniformed officers from Altoona who had made the actual arrest: Joseph Detwiler and Tyler Frye.
In her speech, Tisch — who was appointed as commissioner in December by Adams — also outlined new initiatives she will be pursuing to push down serious crime. Among them are a renewed focus on quality-of-life offenses, which Tisch said contributed to a feeling among New Yorkers that the city is out of control. She also is using data analysis to focus police resources not just on precincts but on particular zones and streets in the city where crime is highest.
"The idea behind zone-based policing is to quite literally flood the zone," with officers going to streets and areas where they are needed, Tisch said.
To combat random acts of violence in the subways, Tisch said officers will be addressing situations immediately and getting mentally ill or troubled people services they need.
"Our subway trains and platforms are not homeless shelters, they are not psychiatric hospitals," Tisch said to applause.
To help officers in handling distressed people, Tisch said she was expanding crisis intervention training in the police academy.
While serious crimes have decreased in the last year, a trend continuing so far in 2025, Tisch said the police are still saddled with prosecutors who are declining to prosecute some crimes. She also said that recidivists are driving many of the crimes.
"Recidivism is getting worse in New York City," Tisch explained, noting that there has been a surge in suspects arrested three or more times for the same crime in the same year.
To deal with the problem, Tisch said she and City Hall are coming up with proposals to ask for changes in the discovery laws that she said were — because of strict case legal time limits — leading to cases being dismissed.
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SARRA SOUNDS OFF: A new style of bowling that works A new style of bowling, the Agostino family tradition on the hardwood and the wrestling championships in Nassau and Suffolk in the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off."
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SARRA SOUNDS OFF: A new style of bowling that works A new style of bowling, the Agostino family tradition on the hardwood and the wrestling championships in Nassau and Suffolk in the latest episode of "Sarra Sounds Off."
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