In a surprise move, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton tendered his resignation Tuesday and current Chief of Department Jimmy O’Neill will replace him in September.
During a press conference at City Hall, Mayor Bill de Blasio praised Bratton, 69, for his heart and ability to create a team that has brought New York City’s crime rate to historic lows.
The career cop picked to lead America's largest police department is embracing a throwback strategy to repair the deep rift that has opened between officers and the public. He wants patrol officers to get to know people on their beat on a first-name basis.
James "Jimmy" O'Neill was introduced Tuesday at City Hall as the next commissioner of the New York Police Department.
As NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton makes a sudden exit, a heated debate over his legacy continues. Bratton has been criticized for abuses committed by the nation’s largest police department — a department which, thanks to flush funding he secured, has dramatically grown under his watch. But Bratton has also presided over the termination of the NYPD’s most controversial enforcement measure, dragnet stop-and-frisk, which former Mayor Michael Bloomberg had hailed as indispensable to fighting crime.
After a rocky tenure in which he brought down crime, but also dealt with tension between police and people of color, New York City Police Commissioner William Bratton is leaving his job.
Bratton, whose departure was announced Tuesday, will leave next month to become a risk and security adviser at Teneo, a consulting firm. James O’Neill, the department’s top chief, will replace him as commissioner.
When New York Police Commissioner Bill Bratton announced his retirement Tuesday, a bald 58-year-old Brooklyn native Mayor Bill de Blasio likes to call "Jimmy" was next in line. As chief of the department, James O'Neill has long been a low-key presence at NYPD conferences, but he'll step into a more political role next month.
NEW YORK CITY — Police Commissioner Bill Bratton said he expects a "seamless transition" when he steps down next month and Chief of Department James O'Neill takes charge of the country's largest police force.
That could be both good and bad news for Mayor Bill de Blasio, political observers say.
A flood of predictable reactions — from police and protest circles — greeted the announcement Tuesday that New York Police Commissioner William J. Bratton is leaving the post in September. The 68-year-old is the most influential American law enforcement executive in modern times, the author of policing strategies that have shaped relations between police and the communities they serve, for better and for worse.
Jews must support the Black Lives Matter movement to fight for the rights of people of color in their own religion, said dozens of Jewish activists who rallied for police reform Downtown on July 28.
“Black Lives Matter is a Jewish issue because there are black Jews,” said April Baskin, vice president of the Union for Reform Judaism congregation, who came all the way from D.C. for the event. “The freedom and safety of black people is tied to our Jewish values for justice and safety for everyone. Our country collectively has not been vocal enough.”
On Saturday, Assembly Member Michael Blake, at an event in his district, was forcibly restrained by a NYPD officer while trying to gain information about an incident that was occurring. He was released after a senior officer recognized him as an elected official.
The incident has many remembering a situation that took place in 2011, when I and Kirsten John Foy, who was working for then Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, were detained by police during the West Indian Day Parade.
