At month’s end Ray Kelly will conclude his 12-year run as police commissioner — the longest period anyone has held the post since its creation in 1901. The average commissioner serves about 2½ years, so this accomplishment is truly phenomenal.
Kelly also leaves with the highest job-approval ratings of any New York city official — though some critics don’t share the public’s appreciation of him.
Anyone who wants to understand Kelly should recognize that he is first and foremost a Marine colonel — and once a Marine, always a Marine.
Thus, he’s sometimes accused of micromanaging. But in the military, it’s not enough to issue orders; a commanding officer must ensure that they’re carried out. This means checking and double-checking on subordinates to ensure that all of them are fully in sync.
In December 1941, officials in Washington sent warnings of a possible attack to the admiral in command at Pearl Harbor — but didn’t follow up to ensure that the fleet was actually put on a war footing. On Dec. 7, Navy ships were at anchor in the harbor and many sailors were on shore leave. The result was 2,400 Americans killed and four US battleships sunk.
A different kind of attack killed more than 2,600 in the Twin Towers on 9/11, shortly before Kelly took office. To prevent a repeat, the new commissioner created the best police counterterrorism system in the country. Some allege that this leaves the NYPD spying on Islamic groups; in fact, it investigates individuals who urge publicly, such as on the Internet, that our citizens be bombed or gassed.
Terrorists have targeted the city least 16 times since 9/11, but none have succeeded. Have we just been lucky or is this the result of the work of the NYPD and its federal partners such as the FBI?
Critics also say that NYPD policing strategies are injurious to minority young men. In the first 11 years of Kelly’s tenure, 5,849 murders were recorded, versus 13,212 in the previous 11 years. A high portion of murder victims are young Black and Hispanic males. In a city flooded with firearms purchased in other states and carried illegally here, the NYPD’s tactics against gun crime have been highly successful in saving the lives of minority males.
And as regards crime in general, New Yorkers of the 21st century are now living amidst 1950s crime rates. Would that the same could be said for prices.
Over a 50-year career, Ray Kelly has served his country in many capacities. As a Marine lieutenant, he fought in the Vietnam War. In 1985, in the wake of a police-brutality scandal in a Queens precinct, Commissioner Ben Ward sent Deputy Inspector Kelly in to clean up the situation.
In 1991, when rioters swarmed through the streets of Crown Heights, it was First Deputy Commissioner Ray Kelly who quelled the disturbances. In 1993, when terrorists bombed the World Trade Center, Commissioner Kelly took charge and his “Marines have landed” persona calmed a frightened city. Kelly worked closely with his FBI counterpart Jim Fox, and within a short time the terrorists were caught. In 1995, when Haiti experienced bloody riots, President Bill Clinton sent Kelly there to head a force of international police monitors and to stop human-rights violations.
Any police commissioner must expect some criticism, and it is the normal practice in New York for a new mayor to choose his own commissioner. However, it is wrong that certain critics should vilify a man with such a sterling record as Ray Kelly. As an independent observer of American police, I salute Kelly and say to him: Well done, Marine.
Thomas Reppetto is the former president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City and the author of “American Police 1945-2012.”