First Deputy Commissioner named to NYPD
Benjamin Tucker has been appointed First Deputy Commissioner of the NYPD, making him the highest ranking black official in the department.
Tucker replaces retired Chief of Department Philip Banks III, who resigned on October 31 ahead of his impending promotion, due to an inability to “bridge that gap” between what the Commissioner William Bratton required of the role and “the police work and operations that I love so much.”
Tucker joined the NYPD in 1969 and came out of retirement in January, 2014, to lead the retraining of police officers. Between his tenures with the NYPD, Tucker served with the Justice Department as an advocate of community policing and with the Office of National Drug Control Policy as deputy director for state, local and tribal affairs.