Edward Caban officially named new NYPD commissioner
The nation’s largest police department officially has a new leader.
Edward Caban was announced as the NYPD’s first Hispanic police commissioner Monday morning to a roaring crowd gathered at the precinct where he started his career three decades ago.
“This is going to be one of the most significant and emotional moments for me,” Mayor Eric Adams said from The Bronx’s 40th precinct of promoting Caban, who is of Puerto Rican descent and the son of a former NYPD transit cop.
“I think about what this moment means living out the promise that I made when running for office,” Adam said, highlighting his efforts to promote diversity in his administration.
The appointment came more than a month after ex-Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell — the first woman appointed to the top post in New York City history — suddenly resigned after a year and a half.
Caban, 55, had previously served as first deputy police commissioner under Sewell, and was elevated to acting commissioner following her June 30 departure.
The Bronx native’s appointment as the NYPD’s 46th commissioner — overseeing some 33,500 uniformed cops and just over 17,000 civilian employees — was announced at a news conference in the Mott Haven stationhouse that began with enthusiastic chants of “Eddie! Eddie!” from officials and community members.
Caban’s children — a girl and boy — held the Bible as their dad was sworn in. The new PC then kissed his wife and his parents, who got up to congratulate him
“Thank you, Mr. Mayor. I am humbled to be on your team,” Caban said, while talking about his 30 years as one of New York’s Finest.
“In those days. the top bosses of the police department didn’t really look like me,” Caban said of when he started out with the NYPD in 1991.
“Fortunately for me, I had a mentor who pushed me: a first-grade detective with tremendous experience. He could spot a pickpocket from across a training platform. But he was also an advocate for those facing barriers in their careers. Many called him Detective Caban, but I was blessed to call him Dad.”
Adams and Caban’s father, Juan Caban, crossed paths when they both served as transit cops in the ’80s, and Hizzoner said there were a lot of similarities between himself and his new appointee’s hardscrabble background and rise to power.
“I think about every mother who is right now is cleaning someone’s office, cleaning someone’s home, who is cleaning the streets, and hoping one day that this dyslexic child that they have can grow to be the mayor of the City of New York and one day this young man of Puerto Rican ancestry can go from watching his dad be a transit cop to being the top cop in the City of New York,” Adams said.
The mayor also introduced Tania Kinsella as the new first deputy commissioner — who will work as Caban’s right-hand and is first woman of color to serve in the post.
Kinsella, the executive officer of the NYPD’s Patrol Services Bureau, is a 20-year veteran of the department who quickly rose through the ranks to deputy chief from captain just four years ago. A Bronx native who moved to Staten Island as a teenager, she is the daughter of immigrants from Jamaica and Guyana.
“She embodies the American dream… She embodies the best of the NYPD,” Adams said.
Kinsella, the former 120th precinct commander, will help battle the department’s “image problem,” which Hizzoner said was marked by NYPD leaders historically being older white men.
“I’m proud, extremely proud, to once again break and shatter the glass ceiling as we appoint the first woman of color to be the deputy commissioner of the city of New York,” Adams said.
Kinsella told the crowd it was “love at first sight” when she joined the force, because it enabled her to “keep people safe” while “building community.”
“I look forward to partnering with the mayor and commissioner to continue to bring crime down, support my fellow police officers and keep New York City the safest big city in America,” she said.
The mayor also claimed the police department was re-energized under his leadership, and alluded to the tenure of Sewell, which, as The Post previously reported, was marked by power struggles with City Hall — leading to her sudden departure.
“We started on a journey when the police department was moving in the wrong direction in the area of law enforcement,” Adams said.
“Morale was down, police officers were not being paid the wages they deserve, we were placing them on the front line. We started the year losing two young people: Mora and Rivera,” he said of Detectives Wilbert Mora and Jason Rivera, who were shot dead on Jan. 21, 2022, while responding to a domestic disturbance in East Harlem.
“No matter what our officers did, we treated them with a level of disrespect,” Adams continued.
“January 1, 2022, when I took over office, I was very clear in one message: ‘I got your back.’”
The mayor said Sewell and Caban, as her first deputy, helped drive down crime.
“I cannot thank Commissioner Sewell for her service and 18 months of turning around [crime in NYC], he has a tough act to follow,” Adams said of Caban.
