Opinion

Meet the New NYPD

Coming to 1 Police Plaza? If NYPD critics get their way, the department will start looking like this performance by the Swiss National Circus. (Reuters)

It appears that the City Council will soon pass an ordinance creating an inspector general to oversee the NYPD. Those who favor this measure are likely to be surprised by what it leads to. Inspector generals exist in many agencies. Usually, the only difference they make is at the margin.

Of course, we already have 10 watchdogs of the police: two federal and six state district attorneys, plus the Civilian Complaint Review Board and the municipal Commission on Police Corruption. So if criminal behavior is alleged against an NYPD officer, the IG will have to take a backseat. Whichever of eight DAs’ offices is handling the case won’t let an IG question suspects or release his findings until the DA’s investigation is finished.

IGs usually have no authority to impose discipline; they can only make recommendations. But some supporters of the council’s ordinance seem to expect otherwise, as they talk of the measure as installing an IG “over” the police commissioner.

If that happens, we’ll have two commissioners.

Indeed, if the IG has the authority to impose changes in the police but has no responsibility to the public for the safety of the citizenry, the ordinance will violate the most fundamental principle of public administration: Authority must be commensurate with responsibility.

Actually, we’ll in effect have three commissioners, since the IG will report to the city Commissioner of Investigation.

Oh, and many observers believe that the federal judge now hearing a lawsuit over the NYPD’s stop-question-and-frisk tactics will impose some type of monitor to oversee the NYPD — so we’ll also have a fourth commissioner.

Few know it, but this was the case in the NYPD for many years. In the second half of the 19th century, a board of commissioners ran the department. When Teddy Roosevelt was president of the board in 1895-’97, he was constantly frustrated by the opposition of two other commissioners. This is why, on becoming governor in 1900, he pushed through a law creating a single, powerful commissioner.

When Mayor John Lindsay took office in 1966, he named Philadelphia Police Commissioner Howard Leary to head the NYPD. But Lindsay intended to run the department through the chief inspector, Sandy Garelick. Plus, First Deputy Commissioner John Walsh had great power over police discipline.thanks to his close alliance with the Manhattan DA. On those occasions when one of Lindsay’s young aides issued direct orders to a police commander, we had a fourth commissioner.

Not surprising, the department fell into administrative anarchy under Lindsay, divided among warring factions. When the chief of Internal Affairs sought a report from the Detective Bureau and was refused, he made a surreptitious entry into the Detective Bureau office. The chief of detectives had been tipped off and was waiting — and the two high officials wound up swapping punches.

During the frequent riots of the Lindsay era, police often under- or overreacted — while various officials, including the mayor’s civilian aides, issued orders and counterorders, exacerbating the disorder.

Ultimately, the whole system collapsed when a major police scandal broke and the department’s problems were revealed in televised hearings of the Knapp Commission.

I don’t expect any serious problems while Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner Kelly are still in office; they won’t permit them. But when a new administration takes over next January, we’ll likely see a three- or four-ring circus at Police Headquarters.

This will include clowns (there will be plenty of them) running around doing hilarious pratfalls, acrobats performing back flips as orders are issued and countermanded, and a loss of morale and unity within the department. The ultimate result will be great harm to public safety.

As much as I love circuses, in such a serious matter as policing, I prefer to follow the advice of Teddy Roosevelt. Let a single, strong commissioner run the NYPD.

Thomas A. Reppetto is the former president of the Citizens Crime Commission of New York City and author of “American Police: 1945-2012.