Scandal cop retires
Sarge was cut from Mayor’s detail over bias complaints
A sergeant at the center of the discrimination scandal in the mayor’s security detail has retired after his bosses blamed him for problems in the unit, sources told the Daily News.
Sgt. Paul Briscoe, 48, put in his retirement papers Tuesday at police headquarters, sources said.
Chief of Intelligence Thomas Galati had abruptly transferred Briscoe out of the Executive Protection Unit in February after six discrimination complaints were filed by detectives in the unit.
The detectives claimed they were passed over for promotion, mistreated and given poor assignments because of racial, religious or age bias.
Inspector Howard Redmond and Lt. Karl Pfeffer, the alleged architects of their discontent, then blamed Briscoe for the problems, sources said.
Galati quietly moved Briscoe out of the unit to another in his division, a tactic meant to avoid a formal review of the transfer, sources said.
Briscoe filed a complaint about the transfer before deciding to retire on the heels of The News’ stories about lawsuits filed by EPU detective Abdelim (Abe) Azab and Keith Dietrich — a highly decorated cop that Redmond made sit in a booth behind City Hall for about a year instead of protecting the mayor.
A third detective, Alex Pelepelin, sued in May. Three more lawsuits are expected.
In his lawsuit filed Sunday, Dietrich alleges, for example, that Redmond gave him “grossly inappropriate and demeaning assignments.” Pfeffer allegedly told Dietrich, “I know you don’t want to protect the mayor; it’s all about your days off.”
A retired EPU sergeant, meanwhile, said Briscoe was fond of referring to certain detectives in the unit as “derelicts” and misfits.”
The retired sergeant said it made sense that Briscoe would be transferred out of the unit rather than Redmond. Transferring the commanding officer of the unit would be too strong of a sign that the discrimination lawsuits had merit, according to the sergeant.
“If you move the sergeant, the city is not going to lose that much money,” the exsergeant said. “If you move the inspector, who runs the detail, guess what? The city is going to pay out the a-- because it’s admitting guilt.
“No ifs, ands or buts, he (Briscoe) took pleasure in what he was doing. He was no lovable character.”
Briscoe, a 25-year veteran who is named in all three lawsuits as a defendant, referred a call to the NYPD press office.
“I really don’t have a comment,” he said.
Mayor de Blasio said Monday he was not considering changes to the unit, and accused the detectives’ lawyer Marshall Bellovin of “trying to make a buck.”
“I have absolute faith in Inspector Redmond,” he said. “I have never seen anything in four-and-a-half years that suggested any discrimination whatsoever. That’s all I’m going to say.”