Woman may get nod for No. 3 post

The NYPD’s first Black woman to become a threestar chief is the top contender to become the department’s next chief of patrol, the Daily News has learned.

Chief Juanita Holmes is the heavily favored frontrunner to replace outgoing Chief Fausto Pichardo, who abruptly resigned Tuesday, sources said.

Shea has yet to announce who will replace Pichardo.

Holmes (inset) is currently in charge of the Office of Collaborative Policing, which oversees partnerships with other government agencies and with community groups. The boost would make her the third most powerful person in the NYPD, under Shea and Chief of Department Terence Monahan.

Pichardo is leaving the NYPD after weeks of friction with Mayor de Blasio over the city’s George Floyd protests, sources said. The mayor would constantly call and text Pichardo, to the point where he felt he was being treated as a whipping boy, the sources claim.

De Blasio denied the allegations on Wednesday claiming the officer’s departure was simply “a decision based on personal and family factors.”

Holmes is from a law enforcement family — her son, a brother, three sisters, two nieces and a nephew are with the NYPD, and another sister is a retired sergeant. She has long spoken about her desire to one day become the police commissioner.

She became a cop in 1987 and set another precedent in 2016 when she became the first Black woman to serve as a borough commander, running Queens North.

She retired in December 2018 to head corporate security at BNY Mellon, but returned to the NYPD in January.

After a short stint in the chief of patrol’s office, Holmes was tapped to run the School Safety Division before her transfer to Collaborative Policing earlier last month.