EXCLUSIVE: Chief transferring 67 top NYPD cops in major shakeup
‘It’s Bratton’s way,’ a source says. ‘He comes in, reviews personnel, then makes his moves. A lot of the moves were expected, but not everyone who is getting moved was expecting it.’ According to another source, even after Monday’s moves are finalized, a handful of positions will still need to be filled.
By Thomas Tracy and Rocco Parascandola
New York City’s Police Commissioner Bill Bratton is finalizing promised personnel changes by the end of March. More than five dozen of the NYPD’s biggest bosses will be transferred Friday.
It’s moving day at One Police Plaza — 67 top bosses are being transferred by NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton in what observers say is one of the largest shakeups in memory.
The moves, to take effect Friday, all but finalize the personnel changes Bratton had said he expected to make by the end of March.
The changes, which are expected to be official within hours, are believed to involve mostly those with the rank of inspector and above and impact all branches of the Police Department — from the Police Academy to the Housing and Transit bureaus.
The NYPD had no comment.
It was just the beginning: NYPD Commissioner Bratton, third from left, may have 61 transfers planned for Friday. But earlier, Mayor DeBlasio announced the appointment of, from left: Ana Bermundez as Commissioner of Department of Correction and Joseph Ponte as Commissioner of Department of Correction; and from right, Vincent Schiraldi as Senior Advisor to the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice, and Elizabeth Glazer as Director of the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice.
“It’s Bratton’s way,” said one source. “He comes in, reviews personnel, then makes his moves. A lot of the moves were expected, but not everyone who is getting moved was expecting it.”
Among the transfers:
Assistant Chief Brian Burke, who headed former Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly’s security detail and then helped transition in the Bratton administration, will be the executive officer in the Chief of Detectives office.
NYPD Commissioner Bratton will still need to fill a handful of positions in the department after Friday’s expected mass transfers.
Assistant Chief Larry Nikunen, the executive officer of the Intelligence Bureau, will be the commanding officer of Patrol Borough Bronx, a spot vacated when Assistant Chief Carlos Gomez was placed in charge of the Housing Bureau.
Deputy Chief Theresa Shortell, head of the Gang Division, will now run the Police Academy.
Bratton had previously made a series of high-level moves, replacing Chief of Detectives Phil Pulaski with Chief Robert Boyce and Chief of Internal Affairs Charles Campisi with Chief Joseph Reznick.
A second source says that even after Monday’s moves are finalized, there will still be a handful of positions that need to be filled.
