The burgeoning sex scandal at One Police Plaza adds to a tumultuous year that has seen three different chief appointments, federal investigations into top government officials and other turmoil.
“It's a mess,” said a retired chief who held the job for decades.
“There's no chain of command. It's very sad. It's really sad for the department.”
Police Chief Eddie Caban resigned in September amid a federal investigation into whether the department alerted nightclubs connected to the ex-cop's brother about inspections.
He was replaced by Thomas Donlon, a former FBI official and close ally of Mayor Adams, who resigned a month later after widely publicized clashes with other executives.
Another close friend of Mayor Adams, Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Philip Banks, who previously served as the head of the New York City Police Department, also resigned in October amid further federal investigation.
On Friday night, much of Police Plaza's leadership disappeared. Gen. Jeffrey Madeley, the military's highest-ranking uniformed officer, abruptly resigned after being exposed by the Post newspaper over allegations of sexual harassment of female subordinates.
Police Chief Jessica Tisch is now at the helm, trying to clean up the mess.
He recently reinstated 500 “unfairly transferred” police officers from their regular posts to regular duties, according to an internal memo.
“Telephone message forwarding” is an accommodation provided by superiors to move officers to their desired substation.
Last week, Deputy Public Affairs Secretary Tariq Shepard was ousted from his position.
Since then, Tisch has moved about a dozen more people out of the press office, police officials said.
The retired secretary believes Tisch, a Harvard graduate and former health commissioner, can right the ship.
“This was before Jessica,” the former chief said.
“She's going to turn things around, but it's going to take time.”
