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De Blasio's New NYPD Commissioner Is A Registered Republican. Does He Support Trump's Anti-Immigrant Agenda?
By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jan 30, 2020
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By
Jake Offenhartz
Published Jan 30, 2020
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Mayor Bill de Blasio often describes New York as the country's progressive beacon, a city where residents understand the importance of diversity, immigration, and compassion for their fellow human beings— values that are antithetical to the rhetoric and policies of President Donald Trump. Indeed, more than two-thirds of the city's registered voters are Democrats, and roughly 80 percent of New Yorkers voted for Hillary Clinton during the last election.
But even as he positions himself as the liberal leader of a Democratic stronghold, de Blasio isn't above promoting a longtime Republican to one of the city's most influential posts. He did just that last month, when he swore in Dermot Shea as the new Police Commissioner of the NYPD.
Public records show that Shea, a 50-year-old Manhattan resident who recently moved from Putnam County, has been a registered Republican since 1994. He last voted in the 2016 presidential election.
The NYPD declined to make Shea available for an interview, and a spokesperson did not respond to questions about whether he backed Trump in 2016 or will support him in the upcoming election. According to one poll, 84 percent of working police officers nationwide backed Trump during the 2016 election. The city's major police unions have openly courted Trump and far-right figures, while deriding progressives as lazy and anti-police.
"Keeping 8.6 million New Yorkers safe simply isn't political," said Devora Kaye, an NYPD spokesperson. "The Police Commissioner is a cop through and through, and that's how New York City will continue as the safest big city."
An analysis of publicly available data shows that de Blasio has only appointed one other Republican besides Shea to a city agency: Deanne Criswell, who took over last year as the commissioner of the Emergency Management Department after Joseph Esposito was fired. Of the nearly 30 agencies overseen by the Mayor's Office, the rest were headed by Democrats or those not affiliated with either party.
The three police commissioners who preceded Shea — James O'Neill, William Bratton, and Ray Kelly — were not registered with any political party. Kelly later emerged as a Trump surrogate (and was rumored to be in the running for FBI director), while both O'Neill and Bratton have been outspoken in their criticism of the current president.
As commissioner, O'Neill frequently reminded the department not to comply with Trump's immigration orders, and didn't shy from sparring publicly with the president. Shea has not made similar proclamations in his first ten weeks on the job. Kaye, the NYPD spokesperson, said the city's so-called "sanctuary city" policies are codified in local law and remain unchanged.
City law prevents police and jails from honoring most detainer requests from Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which would require holding someone past 48 hours in order to facilitate a transfer of custody to federal authorities. Local officials have defended this policy, as the Trump administration has vowed a renewed crackdown on cities that don't meet their requests.
Criminal justice reformers argue that Shea's political preferences are relevant for other reasons, including his staunch opposition to the newly-enacted bail reform package. While the mayor has also raised concerns about the new laws, Shea is seemingly leading the fight to walk back the reforms, frequently raising public safety concerns that advocates say amount to Trumpian scare tactics.
“The NYPD is running a racist fear-mongering campaign to undermine bail reform — apparently pitching their own stories regularly to the New York Post — so am I surprised that the commissioner is a Republican who doesn’t live in NYC? No," said Paulette Soltani, political director of VOCAL-NY. "But it’s certainly disappointing that Mayor de Blasio has set Shea off the leash to do his dirty work. The Mayor should rein in his commissioner and get on the right side of this issue."
Asked for comment, mayoral spokesperson Freddi Goldstein would not say whether the mayor took issue with Shea's party affiliation. "The mayor is concerned about the safety of New Yorkers, just like Police Commissioner Shea," she said. "Their conversations revolve around strategies to further reduce crime and make our city both safer and fairer."
De Blasio's choice for the role of top cop had rankled some observers even before his political party became public. In appointing Shea, the mayor passed over the NYPD's second-in-command, Benjamin Tucker, who would have been the second black police commissioner in the department's history. Records show that Tucker is a registered Democrat.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this story misidentified Shea's place of residence. He lived in Putnam County until 2018, but currently resides in Manhattan, according to the NYPD. He is now registered as a Republican in New York City.
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mayor de blasio
nypd
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Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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