De Blasio, Shea tout community role in picking NYPD precinct commanders

Community panels will help choose commanders at the NYPD's 77 precincts, Mayor Bill de Blasio and police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced Thursday, both describing neighborhood inclusion as a major step toward police reform.

The local councils, comprised of residents of the precincts, will interview commander candidates and pass along recommendations as well as feedback to Shea before he makes a final decision.

"This is unprecedented in the history of the NYPD, we are bringing the voices of the community forward to determine who will be the right leader," de Blasio said at a news conference with Shea, adding that the groups will help with accountability and improve the bond between police officers and the communities they serve.

"People want to feel a connection to their NYPD and especially at the leadership positions," Shea said. "I think this goes very far into building that trust."

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, a mayoral candidate, has said he supports the move.

Neither de Blasio nor Shea said how the councils' vetting process would work or what criteria would be used to evaluate each candidate. During a briefing later with reporters, Shea said the process was evolving but his office will assemble a list of commander candidates before precinct councils conduct interviews and provide input.

While the mayor and police commissioner touted the councils, others with law enforcement backgrounds were far from sanguine. Policing experts and former NYPD commanders worried about the plan's potential pitfalls, most notably the risk that local politics would intrude into the selection process. The end result, they said: a more politicized process, and one where trust in how it's conducted erodes.

"It is a terrible idea," said former NYPD commander Eugene O’Donnell, a professor at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. "You run the risk that a tiny number of unrepresentative people will speak for all people in the community."

O’Donnell said the police department had generally been walled off from the local politics and partisan demands constantly coming at precinct commanders. Having community members involved could create the potential for at least the appearance of influence peddling and undo pressure on commanders, O’Donnell said.

Shea acknowledged that such concerns were legitimate, and also part of internal department discussions leading up to Thursday’s announcement. But he said the aim was to make the process transparent while creating a more open dialogue with communities.

By Anthony M. DeStefano

tony.destefano@newsday.comtonynewsday

Anthony M. DeStefano has been a reporter for Newsday since 1986 and covers law enforcement, criminal justice and legal affairs from its New York City offices.