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U.S. NEWS Tuesday 5 November 2019

NYPD commissioner resigning; top deputy to take his place

By MICHAEL R. SISAK down. We have reduced wall raid, O'Neill called the "This job comes with a lot. codified expansive DNA
Associated Press incarceration." police department's ac- It comes with a lot of pres- collection practices.
NEW YORK (AP) — The po- O'Neill, 61, moved the de- tions "discriminatory and sure," he said Monday. "This "This will be more of the
lice commissioner who led partment from a focus on oppressive." is all I have thought about same, and our clients —
New York City away from New Yorkers from commu-
controversial "broken win- nities of color — will con-
dows" policies, oversaw tinue to suffer more of the
continued drops in crime same from a police depart-
and leveraged his position ment that prioritizes arrests
to confront some of the and summonses above
darkest moments in the all else," Luongo said in a
department's complicated statement.
history announced Mon- Shea last year oversaw an
day that he is retiring. overhaul of the special vic-
James O'Neill, 61, said he tims division, which deals
will leave next month for with sex crimes, including
a job in the private sector. the ouster of the chief in
The career policeman has charge when Harvey Wein-
been in charge of the na- stein was arrested in 2018.
tion's largest police depart- Under new chief Judith
ment for more than three Harrison, the division has
years, bringing a commu- added several dozen more
nity-oriented philosophy investigators, retrained staff
that moved patrol officers and shifted how rape sta-
out of their cars and onto tistics are reported to the
the streets to interact more public. But some victim ad-
closely with residents. vocates called for Shea's
Chief of Detectives Dermot resignation, saying the
Shea, a 28-year depart- changes aren't enough.
ment member who start- "We hear the advocates.
ed as a patrolman in the We're not done," Shea said.
south Bronx, will be the new "Sexual assault survivors are
commissioner. Shea rose to of the utmost importance
prominence as the depart- New York City Police Commissioner James O'Neill, left, listens as his successor, Chief of Detectives to us."
ment's statistical guru, and Dermot Shea, center, speaks at New York City Hall, while New York Mayor Bill de Blasio looks on, O'Neill joined the NYPD as
de Blasio said he is "one of Monday, Nov. 4, 2019. a transit officer in 1983 and
the best-prepared incom- Associated Press spent more than three de-
ing police commissioners cades with the department
this city has ever seen." the broken windows theory, In August, after five years of for the last 38 months — 24 before being appointed in
"He knows this department which viewed low-level of- investigations and disciplin- hours a day, 7 days a week. September 2016 to replace
inside and out," de Blasio fenses as a gateway to big- ary hearings, O'Neill fired It's all you think about, is broken windows proponent
said. "He knows this city in- ger crimes, to a neighbor- Officer Daniel Pantaleo for keeping the people of this William Bratton as commis-
side and out." hood policing model de- using a banned chokehold city safe, and it was an sioner.
O'Neill's tenure as commis- signed to give officers more on Garner, whose dying honor to serve." In that role, O'Neill led ef-
sioner — which began with time to walk around and words "I can't breathe" be- De Blasio's sudden move forts to bolster community
a pipe bomb blast on his interact with people in the came a rallying cry against to install Shea, raised in policing and repair the de-
first full day in office in Sep- communities they police. alleged police brutality. Queens by Irish immigrant partment's relationship with
tember 2016 — came as He led the department's O'Neill said that the deci- parents, as O'Neill's re- minority communities that
the city continued to grap- response to a truck attack sion weighed heavily on placement was not without had complained about in-
ple with its place as a top that killed eight people on him, but that it wasn't a criticism. Tina Luongo, of nocent black and Hispanic
terrorist target, as well as a Manhattan bike path in factor in his decision to the Legal Aid Society, said men being caught up in
tensions between officers 2017 and brought closure leave. Immediately after there should have been an aggressive enforcement of
and the community. this summer to two of the Pantaleo's firing, the city's open, transparent process minor crimes.
"We've redefined in these NYPD's lowest moments, largest police union called with input from city resi- The past year has been
last six years how we po- the violent police raid at for O'Neill to resign, but the dents. particularly trying for
lice this city," Shea said at the Stonewall Inn in 1969 commissioner brushed that Under Shea, Luongo said, O'Neill, with two police of-
a news conference on the and the chokehold death aside. the police department has ficers killed by friendly fire
leadership change. "We of Eric Garner in 2014. Asked in recent weeks expanded its database of and a rash of suicides by
have done what many In June, on the 50th anni- about rumors of his retire- alleged gang members — police officers leading him
thought was impossible. versary of the LGBTQ upris- ment, he said he had the often black and Hispanic to declare a mental health
We have pushed crime ing that followed the Stone- "best job in the world." men and women — and emergency.q