A KICK IN THE BRASS FOR BLAS
Moment spurned commish hopeful bares letdown
Well, this is awkward . . . After being turned down for the top-cop job by Mayor de Blasio, the NYPD’s second-in-command, Benjamin Tucker, had to field questions about it at a press conference Wednesday — while sitting next to Hizzoner.
And three seats away was the man who got the gig, Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea.
With a hang-dog look and apparently feigned enthusiasm, the spurned first deputy commissioner admitted he was “disappointed” about not getting the promotion — for the second time in his career.
“What do you think? Yeah, of course you’re disappointed, right?” Tucker said with a laugh.
The question came amid the monthly crime-statistics press meeting at which Tucker was seated with Hizzoner, Shea, and Commissioner James O’Neill, who is leaving Dec. 1.
After a beat, the crestfallen department veteran added, “At the same time, it’s the mayor’s call, and so I’ll leave it there.”
But he was less upbeat behind the scenes, sources said.
“[Tucker’s] not happy. He wanted the job,” said a City Hall source. “He thought he deserved the job.”
The sources told The Post that Tucker, 66, who’s been with the department for 22 years, first interviewed for the job as police commissioner in 2016, but de Blasio appointed O’Neill to succeed Bill Bratton.
This time around, Tucker enlisted black politicians to lobby City Hall on his behalf, the sources said.
He interviewed at Gracie Mansion on Sunday, a day after Shea sat down with de Blasio, according to the sources.
But behind the scenes, Shea enjoyed the full backing of O’Neill, who made his preference known to the mayor, according to the sources.
Insiders added that Tucker is not exposed to the same day-today operations with which Shea has been involved for years.
“[Tucker is] more a figurehead than a roll-your-sleeves-up, get-your-hands-dirty kind of cop,” another City Hall source added.
“He is a wise man with a lot of experience, but he’s not actually making decisions the same way Dermot does,” a source added.
“He doesn’t deal with crime fighting, he doesn’t deal with statistics, he doesn’t deal with solving crimes,” a law-enforcement source said.
A source close to City Hall said Shea’s rise to commissioner has been a long time coming.
“Anybody who was in the know knew the mayor is fond of Dermot,” the source said. “He has an incredible grasp of crime-fighting strategy, statistics and a huge wealth of knowledge at his disposal at any one time.”
Shea, who entered the Police Academy in 1991, rose through the ranks and was eventually named chief of crime-control strategies in 2014, and then deputy commissioner for operations, overseeing CompStat, the city’s computerized system for crime data.
At the press conference, Tucker explained that he knew ahead of Monday’s announcement that Shea, 50, had landed the job.
“I learned about it from the mayor on Sunday evening at a meeting we had, and he informed me at the time that he had selected Dermot,” Tucker said.
De Blasio didn’t get into the reasons behind his choice, saying, “There’s a group of professionals up here, exceptional professionals who are here for the same cause.”
O’Neill, who is leaving to head Visa’s global physical and personnel security in more than 200 countries, refused to confirm if Shea was his pick for a replacement.