ADVERTISEMENT

NYC Mayor Taps Controversial Ex-Police Chief for Deputy Post

NYC Mayor Taps Controversial Ex-Police Chief for Deputy Post

New York City Mayor Eric Adams named Philip Banks III deputy mayor for public safety on Friday, elevating a former police chief who resigned eight years ago amid federal probes into corruption and money laundering. 

Banks was named the highest-ranking uniformed position in the New York City Police Department in 2013 but resigned a year later, citing “professional reasons.” 

In the ensuing years, he attracted scrutiny in a federal corruption investigation into the former head of the Corrections officers’ union and a wide-ranging federal probe of corruption and favor-trading inside the police department in 2016 and 2017, which led to the resignation of multiple officers. Though he was never charged, Banks was named as an unindicted co-conspirator. 

Banks, the brother of Adams’s new schools chancellor David Banks, first announced his new public safety post in an op-ed published early Friday by the New York Daily News, which was framed as an effort to “defend himself.”

In the editorial, Banks said he never broke the law but apologized to New Yorkers for associating with a pair of Brooklyn power brokers, Jona Rechnitz and Jeremy Reichberg, who were convicted in the corruption probe. 

Federal prosecutors alleged Rechnitz and Reichberg plied Banks with favors and gifts, such as basketball tickets and expensive trips, in an effort to buy influence within the Police Department. They presented as evidence shared videos and photos, as well as wiretapped phone calls between Banks and the two men.

“Despite the fact that I never broke the law, nor did I ever betray the public trust by abusing my authority as an NYPD official, I do also want to offer an apology to the people of New York,” Banks wrote on Friday.

Hiring Announcement

The move for Banks to announce his own hiring was unusual for the Adams administration, which has rolled out other senior cabinet appointments over the last couple of weeks to much fanfare.

Banks had been expected for months to be named to the post, but Adams has previously deflected questions about the appointment. At a press conference in the days before his swearing in, Adams said he was still looking through resumes and had not settled on a choice for the position.

With Banks’s appointment, the city will have a deputy mayor for public safety for the first time since 1990, when David Dinkins, the city’s first Black mayor, selected Milton Mollen for the role. He will have to ensure the administration is coordinated on its public safety response and carry out the promises Adams made on the campaign trail, including controversial measures like restoring plainclothes police officers and bringing back a modified version of stop and frisk.

“The fact that he is restoring this position in his administration speaks volumes about how dedicated he is to tackling the real public safety crisis on our streets,” Banks said in a statement, referencing Mayor Adams. “My goal will be to carry out the Mayor’s plan, working with all City agencies to make this a safer, more equitable city for all New Yorkers.”

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.