Mayor Zohran Mamdani fired New York City Sheriff Anthony Miranda on Thursday and immediately installed retired NYPD Lieutenant Edwin Raymond as the city’s new sheriff, a personnel move the mayor framed as a reset for an agency long under scrutiny.
The removal and replacement explain why searches for "mamdani fires sheriff miranda" spiked today: Miranda’s office has been the subject of multiple probes and workplace complaints in recent years, and Mamdani presented Raymond as a figure who can restore credibility to the Sheriff’s Office.
The case against Miranda that helped prompt the change is concrete. Investigators opened a probe in 2024 into reports that the Sheriff’s Office improperly seized evidence from unlicensed cannabis shops; more than $100,000 in cash was later found inside safes stashed in large shipping containers at the Sheriff’s headquarters on Starr Ave. in Long Island City. Training for deputy sheriff recruits collapsed into confusion in July 2025 after the Department of Investigation found instructors for investigation and firearms training were not state certified, delaying the graduation for more than 80 cadets by more than three weeks. The union called for Miranda’s resignation, saying a hostile workplace had driven away rank-and-file members.
Mamdani described his choice as deliberate: he cast Raymond as the kind of public servant New Yorkers deserve—someone who has fought for effectiveness, accountability and public trust—and said the new sheriff would help rebuild confidence between the city and its law enforcement agencies.
Edwin Raymond’s résumé is the reason Mamdani can make that pitch. Raymond served 15 years in the NYPD before retiring in 2023. He worked eight years as a patrol officer in Transit District 32 and the 77th Precinct, rose to sergeant and lieutenant, and led as commanding officer of Brooklyn North Community Affairs and as a platoon commander in the 81st and 83rd Precincts. He was tapped as the nation’s first social justice liaison in the Office of the New York State Attorney General, ran unsuccessfully for City Council in 2021, and published An Inconvenient Cop: My Fight to Change Policing in America in 2023. Raymond said he looks forward to continuing work to build a safer, fairer and more accountable city as sheriff.
The appointment carries an awkward, unavoidable detail: Raymond sued the NYPD in 2015, joining 11 other officers in a lawsuit that said the department pressured officers to meet numerical quotas in predominantly Black and brown neighborhoods, in violation of state law and the 14th Amendment. That history—an internal challenge turned legal action and then a departure from the force—creates a paradox Mamdani appears to embrace by elevating Raymond to lead an agency still answering questions about seizures, cash and training.
Anthony Miranda did not offer a rebuttal; he said he had nothing to add on his departure. For now, Raymond will step into the sheriff’s post charged with fixing the very problems investigators flagged: improper seizures, unsecured cash, uncertified training and frayed employee morale. The most consequential question left after Thursday’s change is simple and sharp: can a sheriff who once sued his own department translate a reformer’s record into practical fixes for an office that must now demonstrate accountability and regain public trust?
