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Fausto Pichardo, the leader of the New York Police Patrol who oversees more than 22,000 uniforms and 77 police stations, leaves the branch after less than a year in office.
His retirement documents were filed tuesday, according to New York Police spokesman Sergeant Anwar Ishmael, who said it would take effect in November. No explanation was given as to why Pichardo’s sudden departure was not even appointed a replacement.
The mayor’s spokesman, Bill Neidhardt, said in a written statement, “Patrol leader Pichardo is a reputable New York police leader and the city council continues to talk about his long road with him. “
In an interview with PIX 11 on Wednesday morning, police commissioner Dermot Shea said he was surprised by Pichardo’s resignation.
Shea praised Pichardo as “a great asset to the department” and we will miss him.
“He has excelled in each and every task he has performed,” Shea said, from her days as a rookie and climbing the ladder.
Shea declined to comment on the anonymous ones Pichardo resigned from tensions with Mayor Bill de Blasio.
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When asked about the reports at a press convention on Wednesday, De Blasio said they were “not accurate” and that Pichardo’s resignation was a “personal decision. “
“I spoke to him several times last night. I spoke to him this morning,” he said of Blasio. “I am very transparent about these conversations, it is a non-public resolution, a resolution based on non-public and family circle. “factors. “
The mayor said he and Pichardo “rarely disagreed during those months, running a lot in combination in very, very difficult times. So he’s someone I have in high esteem. We all tried to see if there was a way to convince him to stay, however, it’s a non-public decision. “
Born in the Dominican Republic, Pichardo, 43, is the first Caribbean New Yorker to hold the position of leader of the patrol post, which he promoted in December 2019, as well as being the highest-ranking Hispanic officer in the NYPD.
He moved to the United States at the age of nine and grew up on Manhattan’s Lower East Side.
“You communicate about the crack war epidemic,” he said of the community in a January interview with WPIX 11. “I users wait, line up, waiting for us to serve them crack, heroin or coke. “
When asked in a June interview with the station about an attempt to withdraw the budget from the NYPD, which is part of a national motion to <> police after mass protests against the murder through George Floyd police in Minneapolis, Pichardo said, “We want to make sure that this number of workers stays on the same point as we have lately. “
A week after that interview, the City Council and Blasio approved a budget that cut $1. 5 billion in NYPD investment, adding canceling July’s recruiting class, cutting and eliminating plans for a new police station, with cash redistributed to social welfare programs.
By the end of the year, the number of workers is expected to be reduced to approximately 34,837 out of approximately 36,000, with the patrol force, led through Pichardo, supplemented by the reassignment of officials to the street from the workplace.
Pichardo had also served as deputy patrol officer and rate officer of districts 43 and 33 of the Bronx and Manhattan, among others, since entering the department, according to his LinkedIn profile.
“Since I took office in 1999, I’ve been waking up every day running to make the streets of New York safer for police officers and others we’ve sworn to serve,” Pichardo said in a December 2019 article. his promotion to the post of chief patrol. He succeeded Rodney Harrison, who has become the leader of New York police investigators.
In the press release, Pichardo said, “I am grateful to have this opportunity to continue with the thousands of patrolmen who, through community police, are looking to prevent crime from receding as they address the root of New Yorkers’ updoing disorders, solving and securing the protection of people. “
Pichardo’s late-day NYPD Twitter account praised officials for locating a stolen car with the thief who took it, confiding illegal weapons, distributing masks to prevent coronavirus and combating illegal street racing.
His last appearance in the primaries with De Blasio came in early September, when he described the precautions taken to discourage the annual I Open in Brooklyn pandemic, a Caribbean street party that has been the scene of violence for years.
Despite the precautions, a teenager shot six people, in addition to a 6-year-old boy, at an unofficial I Open party and was then arrested and charged with attempted murder.
With Joan Gralla
Matthew Chayes, Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City Council.
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