New police commissioner Tom Donlon meets with NYPD brass as he takes over for Edward Caban
NEW YORK — New York Police Department brass welcomed the city’s new top cop Tom Donlon at 1 Police Plaza on Friday.
Interim Police Commissioner Donlon entered the department’s headquarters in Lower Manhattan around 4:30 p.m. for a meeting with more than a dozen police executives, including Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, Chief of Patrol John Chell and Chief of Detectives Joseph Kenny.
Donlon succeeds Edward Caban, who resigned Thursday amid a federal corruption investigation.
Donlon, an FBI agent who investigated numerous high-profile terrorist attacks, including the 1998 bombings of the U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, will be sworn in by NYPD Chief of Personnel John Benoit before leaving 1PP Friday.
Once the new commissioner is sworn in, the department will remove images of former commissioner Edward Caban, which are hung at 1 Police Plaza and every precinct station house in the city.
It’s unclear if Mayor Eric Adams, sick with COVID-19, spoke with Donlon on Friday before his meeting with police brass.
Rank-and-file patrolmen and women of the department are taking the change in leadership in stride, according to Assistant Commissioner Carlos Nieves
“Although there may be a change in leadership, the cops and detectives will be out there protecting the citizens of New York and our visitors,” said Nieves.
Donlon’s appointment as interim police commissioner comes amid multiple federal corruption probes that have involved raids on members of the NYPD and the upper echelons of Adams’ administration.
Caban’s twin brother, former NYPD Officer James Caban, also had his phones confiscated, as did several senior police officials, with sources saying the feds are investigating whether the commissioner’s sibling sold security favors to nightclubs.
The former commissioner will stay on the city’s payroll for another 30 days before officially stepping down next month.