NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch told rank-and-file officers Wednesday that she and her new boss, Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, don’t “agree on everything.”

One area where they appear to disagree is the necessity of arrests for low-level offenses. Such arrests surged 12% this year compared to last as Tisch prioritizes quality-of-life enforcement. Mamdani, meanwhile, campaigned on shifting the department's focus toward “the serious crimes [officers] signed up to join the department to address.”

Tisch took over last November with a promise to prioritize quality-of-life enforcement, including crackdowns on open drug use, prostitution and transit crimes like fare evasion.

In the transit system alone, misdemeanor arrests rose 48% — about 5,300 more than the same period last year, according to city data. Citywide, misdemeanor arrests peaked at 14,000 in June, the highest monthly total since 2018.

Transit arrests now average nearly 2,000 per month — their highest level since 2017 — and the increases span multiple offense categories. Fare evasion arrests jumped by more than 3,200, or roughly 46%.

“People are arrested for evading the fare for many reasons, including those with active warrants, those who have been identified as serial transit offenders, and those who attempt to bring weapons into the transit system,” said Michael Kemper, head of MTA security.

Drug arrests rose by a similar amount. There was also an uptick in less common offenses, including prostitution and gambling, records show.

As a state assemblymember, Mamdani supported legislation to decriminalize certain prostitution offenses. Mamdani is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America, which has long advocated for drug decriminalization. His own stance, however, has been less clear.

Hours after Mamdani named Tisch as his commissioner, Gothamist asked him about Tisch’s focus on low-level crimes and whether he thinks they prevent more serious crimes.

He didn’t specifically answer the question in his response.

“I agree with the commissioner and the importance of delivering public safety to each and every New Yorker,” he said in an interview. “And I am looking forward to building out an administration that reckons with the many ways in which so many New Yorkers have been left behind.”

He also emphasized “the importance of fully funding so many of our city agencies, which are critical to not only delivering on quality of life, but also addressing the needs of New Yorkers.”

Tisch has credited the enforcement strategy with bringing down crime and improving public perceptions of safety. She’s said that quality-of-life offenses, even when minor, contribute to a broader sense of disorder that makes New Yorkers feel unsafe.

Tisch and Mayor Eric Adams say a surge of officers into the subway system has helped restore a sense of public safety in the transit system.

Kemper concurred: “The NYPD’s presence at station entry gates reassures riders and has contributed to this year’s significant drop in subway crime.”

The NYPD justified the low-level arrests by citing data that shows that 8% of the people arrested for fare evasion were also arrested for illegal possession of a weapon, roughly a 1% increase from last year.

The department also pointed to reduced crime over the past year. Crime has fallen about 3% and transit crime has fallen about 5%.

“July, August, September, and October combined were the safest months on the subways in recorded history, excluding the pandemic years,” spokesperson Brad Weekes said.

But some experts say the uptick in arrests doesn’t translate to meaningful crime prevention.

Daniel Ades, senior director of New York legal policy at the Center for Justice Innovation, said the link between misdemeanor arrests and violent crime is unclear. He said misdemeanor arrests plummeted 52% from 2013 to 2019, with 2019 ending as the city's safest year on record.

“Does that mean that the higher number of misdemeanor arrests in 2013 was responsible for the higher felony crime rate back then?” he said. “Probably not. But it does cast doubt on the relationship between increased low-level enforcement and violent crime.”

Peter Moskos, a criminologist at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said the arrests often target individuals police consider high risk, even when the charges are minor.

"A lot of these stops are pretextual in the sense they're targeting high-risk people, known felons and such," Moskos said. "They're trying to stop them legally before they shoot another person."

Moskos said that most cases are dropped and typically result in desk appearance tickets rather than jail time.

Brigid Bergin contributed reporting.

This story has been updated with additional information.