At the NYPD, the past is prologue

The Adams administration can be aptly described by the oft quoted phrase from the famous poem by Robert Burns, “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Adams came into office with such promise. Although most police officers knew he was a wolf in sheep’s clothing, the general public saw his credentials and thought otherwise. 

His plan to correct all of the perceived racial injustices in one fell swoop by appointing people of color and breaking glass ceilings has backfired, not because his intentions were bad, but because in most instances, he selected cronies while giving little consideration to other suitable candidates.

He did, however, pick a qualified candidate as his first police commissioner, Keechant Sewell. He can legitimately claim to have broken another glass ceiling with her appointment. She had credentials and by all accounts she was well respected during her short tenure with the NYPD, despite being under the thumbs of both Adams and his deputy mayor for public safety, Phil Banks. She was smart enough to get out while the getting was good.

Unfortunately, her successor, Edward Caban was not so lucky. His resignation, after his residence was searched by federal agents, brought to light another scandal — distinct from the mayor’s troubles — that involves Caban’s twin brother, James, one that has caught up many rising stars in the department’s upper echelon.

In the wake of Caban’s resignation, the mayor either decided he couldn’t appoint another high-ranking NYPD chief or no high-ranking chief wanted the position, so he came up with the idea of appointing an interim commissioner, who on paper, seemed like a wise choice. Thomas Donlon is an outsider and former special agent with the FBI and had worked with NYPD detectives as head of the New York City Joint Terrorism Task Force. No doubt he was promised consideration for a permanent appointment. Otherwise, there would be absolutely no reason to take the post under the present circumstances. While not specifically mentioned anywhere, Adams may have hoped that by naming a former Fed, he could keep the Department of Justice’s hounds at bay when it came to investigations into his own misdeeds.

Not so fast Mr. Mayor, the Feds countered. Shortly after his appointment, Donlon’s own residence was raided by his former colleagues. According to the FBI, the items removed concerned papers that he was not authorized to possess. The government certainly picked an inconvenient time to retrieve the material, but in doing so, he was no longer the interim commissioner, but a lame duck commissioner instead.

If he goes, at least Donlon can say that he did not serve the shortest tenure of any police commissioner. That honor belongs to former first deputy William J. Devine, who was suffering from terminal cancer at the end of his career, and served two days between the resignation of Robert McGuire on Dec. 30, 1983, and the appointment of Benjamin Ward on Jan. 1, 1984. Devine died a few short weeks later.

Devine’s appointment was a tribute to his long career in the NYPD. The same could not be said for Frederick H. Bugher, whose 23-day tenure, from Jan. 1, 1918, to Jan. 23, 1918, Donlon has already passed. Bugher had previously served as first deputy commissioner in 1910 to William Baker, but their styles clashed. Bugher had served honorably in the Spanish American War and brought strict military decorum to the department. Baker, on the other hand, was more of a hands-off administrator and ordered Bugher to do the same. When Bugher complained about his boss to Mayor George McClellan, the mayor got rid of both of them and for all intents and purposes ran the department himself.

When newly elected Mayor John Hylan was looking for a police commissioner in 1918, he reached out to Bugher, who remembering his past service in the NYPD, said he would only accept the post if the mayor promised a free hand with no political interference. Shortly after he was sworn in, Bugher received a visit from the mayor’s brother-in-law with instructions from the mayor that he was to appoint a family friend as police property clerk. 

Bugher threw the mayor’s brother-in-law out of his office and in effect threw away his career. A few days later he was called to the mayor’s office and told him he was finished. Bugher clicked his heels, did an about face and marched out of City Hall. Much like Sewell, his integrity took priority over politics. When he goes, whether by his choice or Adams’, Donlon hopefully will be able to say the same.

Bernard Whalen is a former NYPD lieutenant and the co-author of “The NYPD’s First Fifty Years” and “Case Files of the NYPD.”