BRASS KICKING
NYPD sex-crimes unit boss gets bounced
The head of the NYPD's sex crimes unit who donated to President Trump's campaign after The Donald boasted about grabbing women “by the p----” has been banished to Staten Island amid a massive shakeup of the department's Special Victims Division, officials said Thursday.
Deputy Chief Michael Osgood, the division's commander, was transferred to Patrol Borough Staten Island, where he will be its executive officer.
An NYPD spokesman said Osgood's transfer had nothing to do with his political donations — and his supporters believe he was moved because he repeatedly requested increases in resources.
“(He will be) in his home borough where he will oversee more than 900 personnel,” an NYPD spokesman said.
Deputy Chief Judith Harrison, a 21-year veteran of the NYPD, has been made the new commanding officer of the special victims unit, officials said.
The division will be split into two commands — adult abuse, headed by Deputy Inspector Paul Saraceno, and the child abuse squad run by Deputy Inspector Caroline Roe.
The hate crimes task force, which investigates bias crimes in the city, has been removed from the Special Victims Division officials said.
NYPD Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea in April promised a “top to bottom” review of the Special Victims Division amid repeated complaints that many detectives assigned there are inexperienced and insensitive and that not every sex crime is handled by the squad.
A month earlier, the city Department of Investigation blasted the NYPD Special Victims Division, claiming that it had woefully undermined sex crimes investigations because it was understaffed.
The report also criticized the department's policy of not forwarding acquaintance and date rape cases to the unit.
Mary Haviland, the executive director of the New York City Alliance against Sexual Assault, bemoaned Osgood's departure and feared Harrison does not have the experience to compensate for his loss.
“We're losing a very innovative, creative leader around sexual assault,” said Haviland. “I think (it) has much more to do with the fact that Deputy Chief Osgood has been pushing NYPD leadership to increase resources and increase the skill level of those in the division.”
Also in April, The News reported that Osgood donated $500 to Trump's campaign in 2016 four days after it was disclosed that he had told "Access Hollywood" host Billy Bush that he enjoyed grabbing women “by the p----.”
He went on to make 10 more contributions — a total of $2,810 over six weeks — to Trump's campaign committees as the scandal over allegations that the candidate had groped multiple women intensified.
At the time, Osgood was overseeing the NYPD's investigation into former Democratic Rep. Anthony Weiner's creepy texting habits.
Osgood was respected by many advocacy groups. In the spring, the New York City chapter of the National Organization for Women went out of its way to laud his work, even as it was blasting the NYPD's approach to some sex crimes and the need to bolster its unit with more investigations.
Osgood also led an investigation in 2015 of disgraced producer Harvey Weinstein after a model accused him of sexually assaulting her in his Tribeca office. The Manhattan district attorney's office, in a controversial decision, decided not to prosecute.
There is nothing illegal with cops making campaign contributions, a police source said.