O’Neill retires after
3 years as commish
NYPD Commissioner James O’Neill with Mayor Bill de Blasio announcing
the top cop’s resignation.
BY MARK HALLUM
The nation’s largest police force
will have a new leader in December
when current Chief of
Detectives, Dermott Shea, replaces the
outgoing Commissioner James O’Neill,
who formally announced his resignation
Monday in favor of an undisclosed
private-sector job.
O’Neill simply said it was “his time” to
move on despite questions of recent controversy
regarding the fi ring of Offi cer
Daniel Pantaleo in the Eric Garner case
or the spate of police-involved shootings
and suicides.
“It weighed heavily on me, but I felt
that this is my time,” O’Neill said.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said his decision
to name Shea as O’Neill’s successor –
rather than seeking new leadership outside
the NYPD – was based on a personal
conviction that the department
is going in the right direction with new
inroads made within the community
through programs such as the Neighborhood
Coordination Offi cers initiative.
“O’Neill led a transformation that
many people felt was impossible … The
relationship between our community
and our police is fundamentally different
than it was a few years ago. This is
a safer city and a fairer city,” de Blasio
said. “In 2018, 15,000 fewer people
were arrested than fi ve years earlier and
we got safer.”
O’Neill spent 37 years in the
NYPD and the last three years as
its commissioner. He will leave
the department at the end of
November, O’Neill said.
PHOTO BY MARK HALLUM
Shea, from Sunnyside, Queens, started
his career in the NYPD in 1991 and
has since climbed through many facets
of the agency before being appointed to
his current role under the leadership of
former Commissioner Bill Bratton, who
stepped down in 2016.
“This is a tremendous honor and a tremendous
responsibility, and I’m grateful
to the mayor for this privilege to serve,”
Shea said.
The current chief of detectives
came under fi re earlier this year after
a WABC-TV investigation found that
the NYPD undercounted the number
of rape incidents in recent years. Shea
said he would have a dialogue with concerned
groups in the future.
Shea’s top cop appointment, however,
did not sit well with some in the
legal community.
Tina Luongo, Attorney-In-Charge of
the Criminal Defense Practice at The
Legal Aid Society, was nonplused by
Shea’s appointment to top cop in the
city, explaining that it was another failure
on behalf of the de Blasio administration
to seek a transparent, community
driven decision in terms of law
enforcement.
“Yet again, this Administration has
failed to consult the community on a
decision that will affect the lives of millions
of New Yorkers. This city needs
a Commissioner who is dedicated to
transparency and accountability, committed
to community engagement, and
champions reforms in the face of opposition
from police unions and others
that are invested in the status quo,” Luongo
said.
TURN YOUR CONCERN
INTO IMPACT.
The New York Community Trust
can help maximize your
charitable giving.
Contact Jane at
(212) 686-0010 x363
10 November 7, 2019 Schneps Media