February 11, 2026 BROXN, NY For decades, the Bronx has been treated as a single, massive headache for the NYPD. But as of this spring, the "forgotten borough" is being sliced in half—not by a wall, but by a wall of blue.

In a high-stakes "State of the NYPD" address at Cipriani Midtown, Commissioner Jessica Tisch dropped a bombshell: the Bronx is officially too big and too violent for one command to handle. By splitting the borough into Patrol Borough Bronx North and Patrol Borough Bronx South, the NYPD is launching a desperate bid to reclaim streets that have been neglected for far too long.

The Surge: 200 Cops and an Arsenal of Specialists

This isn’t just a change on a map. Tisch is backing the restructure with serious muscle. The Bronx is about to see an influx of nearly 200 additional police officers, but these aren’t just beat cops. The city is flooding the zone with high-tier specialized units to dismantle the borough’s most persistent threats:

• Homicide Squad Detectives: To close the gap on unsolved murders.

• Evidence Collection & Narcotics Teams: To target the drug trade at the source.

• Neighborhood Safety & Auto Crime Units: To stop the surge in car thefts and street-level violence.

A "Fairness" Crisis: The Grim Math

The Commissioner didn't mince words about why this is happening now. In 2025, the Bronx was essentially a shooting gallery compared to its neighbors. Despite having a fraction of the city’s population, the borough accounted for over one-third of all shooting victims citywide—a rate three times higher than Manhattan or Queens.

With over one million calls for help logged last year alone, the current structure was described as "unacceptable." Residents have been screaming for help for years; it seems the city finally checked the data and realized they were right.

Killing the 311 "Black Hole"

If you’ve ever called 311 for a blocked driveway or a noise complaint only to have it vanish into thin air, Tisch has a message for you: She knows.

The Commissioner admitted that the current 311 response system is a mess of "long text chains and hand-tracked notes." To fix it, the NYPD is launching a

digital dispatch system for "Q-Teams." The goal? Treat a 311 quality-of-life complaint with the same accountability and digital tracking as a 911 emergency.

The Bottom Line

With Mayor Zohran Mamdani watching from the front row, Tisch made it clear that the status quo is dead. Between the Bronx split and a renewed focus on "constitutional policing" and de-escalation training, the NYPD is attempting a total reboot.

The Bronx has been asking for a fair shake for a generation. This spring, we’ll see if doubling the leadership actually halves the crime.