New York City Police Commissioner

New York City Police Commissioner

NYPD Commissioner's Shield
Occupation
Activity sectors	Law enforcement

The New York City Police Commissioner is the head of the New York City Police Department, appointed by the Mayor of New York City. Governor Theodore Roosevelt, in one of his final acts before becoming Vice President of the United States in March 1901, signed legislation replacing the Police Board and office of police chief with a single police commissioner. The Commissioner is a civilian administrator appointed by the Mayor of New York City. There is a separate position of Chief of Department, the holder of which serves as the senior sworn uniformed member of the force.^[1]

Commissioners

Pre 1901

Prior to 1901, the NYPD was run by a board of four to six commissioners that jointly ran the department. The following is a list of some of the most famous members of the Police Commission:

• George Washington Matsell, superintendent ^[2]
• John Alexander Kennedy, 1860–1863
• Abram Duryée, 1873
• Frederick Dent Grant, 1894–1898, commissioner
• Theodore Roosevelt, 1895–1897, superintendent
• John H. McCullagh, 1897–1898, superintendent
• William Stephen Devery, 1898–1901, superintendent. The superintendent title was changed to Chief of Police in 1898.
  Devery was the Police Department's last superintendent, and first Chief of Police.

Post-1901

From 1901 onwards, the NYPD has been run by a single commissioner that solely ran the department. The following is a list of the commissioners:

• Michael C. Murphy, 1901–1902
• John Nelson Partridge, 1902–1903
• Francis Vinton Greene, 1903–1904
• William McAdoo, 1904–1906
• Theodore A. Bingham, 1906–1909
• William F. Baker, 1909–1910
• James Church Cropsey, 1910–1911
• Rhinelander Waldo, 1911–1913
• Douglas Imrie McKay, 1913–1914
• Arthur Hale Woods, 1914–1918
• Frederick H. Bugler, 1918
• Richard Edward Enright, 1918–1925
• George Vincent McLaughlin, 1926–1927
• Joseph A. Warren, 1927–1928
• Grover Aloysius Whalen, 1928–1930
• Edward Pierce Mulrooney, 1930–1933
• James S. Bolan, 1933
• John Francis O'Ryan, 1934
• Lewis Joseph Valentine, 1934–1945
• Arthur William Wallander, 1945–1949
• William P. O'Brien, 1949–1950
• Thomas Francis Murphy, 1950–1951
• George P. Monaghan, 1951–1953
• Francis William Holbrooke Adams, 1954–1955
• Stephen P. Kennedy, 1955–1961
• Michael J. Murphy, 1961–1965
• Vincent Lyons Broderick, 1965–1966
• Howard R. Leary, 1966–1970
• Patrick V. Murphy, 1970–1973
• Donald F. Cawley, 1973–1974
• Michael Codd, 1974–1977
• Robert J. McGuire, 1978–1983
• Benjamin Ward, 1984–1989
• Richard J. Condon, 1989–1990
• Lee Patrick Brown, 1990–1992
• Raymond W. Kelly, 1992–1994
• William J. Bratton, 1994–1996
• Howard Safir, 1996–2000
• Bernard Kerik, 2000–2001
• Raymond W. Kelly, 2002–present

• 

  NYPD Commissioners of the 1860s

• 

  Roosevelt as NYPD Commissioner 1895

• 

  William S. Devery

See also

	New York City portal
	Law enforcement/Law enforcement topics portal

• New York City Police Department
• List of New York City lists

References

1. ^ Administration of the NYPD
2. ^ Lankevich, George L. (1998). American Metropolis: A History of New York City. NYU Press . p. 85. ISBN 0814751865. 

External links

• Police Commissioner page on the NYPD website