Mayor Adams' latest appointment to the NYPD watchdog agency could spell trouble for Mamdani

Josephine Stratman, Thomas Tracy, Rocco Parascandola and Chris Sommerfeldt, New York Daily News on Dec 11, 2025

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NEW YORK — With just three weeks left in office, Mayor Eric Adams is filling slots on the city’s independent police watchdog board with members seen as being more supportive of cops — slotting in a retired NYPD inspector on Thursday after putting in a new interim chair earlier this week.

Together, the appointments to the Civilian Complaint Review Board of Kevin McGinn and Interim Chair Pat Smith, an ex-journalist, tee up the possibility of a clash between democratic socialist Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani and the NYPD’s unions should Mamdani move to void the appointments.

“I have said for years that public safety and justice are the prerequisites to prosperity — and, in our city, having a strong Civilian Complaint Review Board is vital to achieving it,” Adams said in a Thursday statement announcing McGinn’s appointment. “Kevin McGinn’s decades of dedication to city service and prior experience as a law enforcement leader will play a pivotal role in furthering the board’s mission of ensuring justice and fairness for all New Yorkers.”

The CCRB appointments may not be Adams’ only parting gift to Mamdani. The mayor, a retired NYPD captain, also initiated the process of filling the city’s Rent Guidelines Board with pro-real estate industry members, a move that could complicate Mamdani’s promise of delivering a rent freeze for stabilized tenants.

In the most recent move, McGinn’s appointment was designated by NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch and approved by Adams, according to the CCRB.

Sources familiar with the matter said Mamdani and his transition team were not consulted on the McGinn pick by Tisch, who has agreed to stay on as commissioner after he’s sworn in Jan. 1. But an NYPD spokeswoman said that’s because McGinn’s name was submitted for nomination months ago, before Mamdani’s Nov. 4 election victory.

Mamdani’s transition team did not immediately respond to a request for comment on McGinn.

McGinn was with the NYPD for 20 years, serving as a deputy inspector and commanding officer of the precincts on Staten Island and in Brooklyn.

“I wish to thank Mayor Adams and Commissioner Tisch for appointing me to the CCRB as a Police Commissioner designee,” McGinn said in a statement. “I am pleased to serve the people of New York City and to work alongside my fellow Board Members, and I look forward to following the facts and the law impartially and in an unbiased fashion.”

Although members of the CCRB serve at the pleasure of the mayor, axing pro-NYPD members upon taking office could face backlash on any number of fronts, including the unions with whom he already has a rocky relationship.

Mamdani has come under fire for past “defund the police” statements, and he vowed on the campaign trail to expand the CCRB’s power, advocating for it to have the final say on what disciplinary action should be taken against cops found guilty of wrongdoing. Currently, the board offers a recommendation to the NYPD commissioner, who gets the final say.

However, the mayor-elect softened his stance on this after he announced Tisch would stay in her role in the new administration.

Asked whether Adams is trying to disrupt Mamdani’s agenda with these last-minute appointments, the mayor’s office referred back to the statement from him included in the board’s press release.

Interim CCRB Chair Smith’s appointment followed previous chair Dr. Mohammad Khalid’s resignation last month. Khalid, a Staten Island dentist, stepped down in response to what he described a “campaign of lies” against him by Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Hendry.

Smith, at the board’s Wednesday meeting, pushed for stricter hiring requirements for CCRB investigators, including a review of their social media posts and a bachelor’s degree with at least a minor in law enforcement, criminal justice or a similar field. The pumped-up standards would come with a salary increase, he said at the meeting.

The mayor’s appointment of Smith was decried by anti-police-violence advocates who said Smith stands against police oversight.

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