Ben Tucker has been appointed the NYPD’s first deputy commissioner. The announcement comes amid the continuing fallout from Chief of Department Philip Banks’ resignation after he and Police Commissioner William Bratton allegedly clashed over how much power the first deputy commissioner
position should have.
Tucker is a native of Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, who joined the NYPD in 1968 as a police trainee and, after becoming an officer, made his way quickly through the ranks, serving in the 24th, 77th and 69th precincts.
Tucker took a leave from his police duties to work in the Ed Koch administration. Over the course of his career, Tucker has worked as an assistant director for the Civilian Complaint Review Board, the deputy assistant director for law enforcement services in the Mayor’s Office of Operations and the executive director of the New York City Commissioner on Human Rights. In 2009, President Barack Obama picked Tucker to head the National Drug Control Policy’s Office of State, Local and Tribal Affairs.
Before this appointment, Tucker was the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of training.
The first deputy commissioner will be second in command to Bratton, and although the first deputy commissioner position is a higher rank than the chief of department post that Banks held, the perception of the position, since the Bloomberg administration, has been that it is largely ceremonial. Banks was initially tapped for this position, but in the alleged disagreement with Bratton over how much power the position should have, Banks resigned just days before his official promotion.