Adams looks to replace interim NYPD commissioner. Is head of sanitation a contender?

Mayor Eric Adams confirmed Thursday afternoon that he’s looking for someone new to lead the NYPD, but could the current sanitation commissioner be on the list of contenders for the role?

In an exclusive interview with our sister station Telemundo 47, Adams said interim commissioner Tom Donlon will soon be stepping aside to be replaced by a permanent police commissioner. 

“We are finalizing that process," he said.

The former NYPD Commissioner Edward Caban resigned last month from his post helming the country's largest police department amid a federal investigation into its nightclub enforcement, according to a memo obtained by NBC New York.

Caban, who was appointed to the job in July 2023, became the first Latino to serve as commissioner of the NYPD in its 179-year history.

Donlon assumed duties as interim NYPD commissioner, the third top cop of the Adams administration so far, when the embattled outgoing chief's resignation took effect.

However, a week following him being named interim commissioner, federal authorities searched Donlon's the homes and seized materials unrelated to his police work.

The unexplained and unexpected search came as the Adams administration reels from other federal law enforcement investigations.

Sources tell NBC New York that a leading contender to run the nation’s largest police department in a full-time capacity is Jessica Tisch, the current Department of Sanitation commissioner with past experience as a crime strategy expert at the NYPD. 

“I believe commissioner Tisch has done an outstanding job with the Sanitation agency she has been flawless and totally committed to our constituents," NYC Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said when asked about Tisch Thursday.

The speaker also said that so far the turmoil surrounding the mayor hasn’t impacted city services. 

“I can honestly say and thankfully say we have not seen any negative imbalance," Adrienne said.

Meanwhile, Gov. Kathy Hochul -- who has the power to remove the mayor -- said this week she’s advising Adams on many of the changes in city government. 

Over the past weeks there has been a growing list of senior officials to exit the Adams administration as half a dozen separate investigations surround many top members of the mayor's staff, and Adams himself.

Despite polls showing more than two-thirds of New Yorkers want him to resign, Adams has vowed to stay in office after pleading not guilty last week to charges that he accepted about $100,000 worth of free or deeply discounted international flights, hotel stays, meals and entertainment, and sought illegal campaign contributions from foreign interests.

If Adams does not resign, 63% of New Yorkers would want Hochul to take steps to remove him, the poll found. In response to the Marist poll, the mayor said Friday that voters will come around when they hear his side of the story. 

In his own indictment, Adams was accused of knowingly accepting illegal donations from straw donors – in his case, conspiring to take campaign contributions from Turkish nationals and disguising the payments by routing them through U.S. citizens. That enabled Adams to unlock public funds that provide an eight-to-one match for small-dollar donations, prosecutors said.

Adams, a Democrat, faces conspiracy, wire fraud and bribery charges in a five-count indictment outlining a decade-long trail of corruption that began when he served as an elected official in Brooklyn and continued through his mayoral administration. The mayor has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing and has vowed to stay in office.

“I will fight these injustices with every ounce of my strength and my spirit,” he said at the time of his indictment calling the charges against him "based on lies" and saying he was targeted.