Opinion

Ray Kelly leaves big shoes to fill

Blessed be the defender, for without him the meek shall inherit only the wind.

Hold that thought today, and in the weeks and months to come, as incoming New York City Police Commissioner Bill Bratton moves to fill the big brogans left him by departing top cop Raymond W. Kelly.

Kelly’s departure brings to an end a 43-year association with the NYPD that saw him serve in 25 separate commands, in virtually every uniformed rank and as commissioner twice —interspersed with a combat tour in Vietnam as a Marine officer; as chief of the US Customs Service during the Clinton administration, and as director of police in Haiti under a UN mandate.

Not bad for a kid who grew up on the Upper West Side in the not-so-good old days.

New Yorkers in all five boroughs have particular reason to be grateful for his service: His second stint as commissioner was a 12-year turn — itself historic — which saw crime brought to historic lows and remain there, even as Kelly, through force of will, built an anti-terrorism operation that is the envy of big cities around the world.

Most leaders stand on the shoulders of their predecessors, and Kelly is no exception. He embraced the fundamental strategy that informed the spectacular anti-crime success of the Giuliani years. Primarily, that was a combination of strict command accountability and meticulous attention to even the most minor transgressions, the so-called quality-of-life crimes.

Kelly took office while smoke was still rising over Ground Zero. That is, when the need for a vigorous anti-terrorism presence could not have been more obvious. The city had relied on the feds to keep us safe from terror after the 1993 World Trade Center truck bombing. To no avail.

Kelly, and Mayor Bloomberg decided they would not wait for the next attack. They determined that, to the extent that it could, New York City would protect itself from terrorism. Thus was born the city’s anti-terrorism effort.

It is impossible to know how many acts of savagery were averted simply by the presence of the NYPD’s unit. This much is on record: Since 9/11, sixteen serious plots were taken down wholly or in part by city counter-terrorism cops.

We count that as one of Kelly’s finest achievements. But New York, like much of America, grew war-weary during the decade after 9/11. Presently its attention was captured by folks who reflexively oppose aggressive policing of any sort.

As a group, these folks had more than just counter-terrorism in their sights. They also targeted the NYPD’s successful anti-street-crime tactics.

Never mind that Kelly and city lawyers paid exquisite attention to the letter and spirit of the law, not to mention to governing federal court consent decrees. Even so, litigation was filed and public-relations campaigns mounted aimed squarely at serious law enforcement of all kinds. That included smearing as racial profiling law-enforcement efforts directed at getting illegal guns off the street.

To varying degrees, alas, such mischief-making has been successful — because “success” in such endeavors almost by definition means more fertile ground for terrorists, as well as more violent street crime.

Time will tell, of course, but it’s no exaggeration to predict that incoming Commissioner Bill Bratton’s life will be unnecessarily complicated because of it.

None of this reflects badly on Kelly. Quite the contrary: No matter what the pinched-vision critics have to say, New York is what it is today — safe, sane and still ascendant after all these years — in no small measure because of Raymond W. Kelly, a son of the city and, above all, a cop’s cop.

God bless, commissioner. And good luck no matter what comes next.