Poll: Where should the next NYPD Commissioner come from?
Roughly one year ago, NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton created a minor frenzy when he told City & State’s Tom Allon that he would not be sticking around for a second term, regardless of whether Bill de Blasio is re-elected. Though Bratton would later walk this statement back, the clock on his tenure at One Police Plaza had officially started, with de Blasio expected to eventually lose a key ally in his frosty relationship with the NYPD.
On Monday, the New York Times reported that Bratton had settled on a definitive exit timeline, confirming that he would leave his post by the end of 2017. While Bratton’s brand of “Broken Windows” policing is not seen as the crime panacea that it was during his first stint as NYPD commissioner in the early-to-mid-’90s, his reputation and record still has significant cachet within the department.
Over the last three years, Bratton has managed to keep crime in New York City at record low numbers, while presiding over a steep reduction in the use of stop-and-frisk and the institution of a new community policing policy. Bratton was also a steady hand at the helm of the department and helped insulate the mayor from fervent criticism from the city’s police unions after de Blasio was deemed unsupportive of law enforcement when he expressed sympathy for Eric Garner after he was killed by a police officer using a chokehold in 2014.
With Bratton’s exit date now solidified, all eyes will be on who will be tapped as his successor, whether by de Blasio or someone else. In his interview with the Times, Bratton was not shy about plugging James O’Neill, the department chief and highest-ranked uniformed officer, as a possible replacement. However, there is also a possibility that the next commissioner could come from outside the department, with the next mayor perhaps extending his search to other U.S. cities.
So for our latest Slant poll, tell us where you would like to see the next commissioner come from – within the ranks of the NYPD, or new blood from the outside?