The NYPD's hot-tempered deputy chief of public affairs — who once called a New York Post reporter a “shithole” — was demoted this week, police officials said.
Tariq Shepard, a 21-year veteran of the NYPD, will become deputy chief and commander of the Interagency Operations Division, effective Dec. 26, according to NYPD paperwork.
“This is certainly a downward revision, but it's a soft landing,” a law enforcement official said of Sheppard, a friend of Mayor Adams.
It's unclear exactly why he was ousted from his job, but Mr. Shepard, 48, has previously clashed with the media after getting into an altercation with then-acting police commissioner Tom Donlon at the New York City Marathon in November.
Shepherd, a former commander of Harlem's 28th Precinct, was appointed DCPI in August 2023 by former Police Chief Edward Caban, bringing with him fellow executives.
He expanded the office from about 40 to 86 employees.
Some of them have now been transferred from the office, police sources said.
In one controversial move, Shepard moved reporters who cover the NYPD and have worked for decades in a crowded second floor of offices known as “The Shack” to a modular building outside police headquarters. was moved to the building.
He claimed it was to create more space for “ethnic media,” but the space is typically used by the same small number of journalists who previously worked inside the main building.
Shepard called a Post City Hall reporter a “shithole” after the reporter contacted Patrol Chief John Chell for comment on a federal investigation into city employees.
