Mayor de Blasio tapped a civil-rights litigator on Thursday to head the 13-member Civilian Complaint Review Board.
Richard Emery, a former attorney for Police Commissioner William Bratton, has been both an ally and an opponent of the NYPD.
In 2010, he won a $33 million settlement from the city for the unconstitutional strip-searching of thousands of jailed New Yorkers.
He is also a longtime pal of Bratton.