Raymond Kelly

Raymond Walter Kelly (born September 4, 1941) is the current Commissioner of the New York City Police Department and the first person to hold the post for two nonconsecutive tenures. Kelly spent 31 years in the NYPD, serving in 25 different commands and as Police Commissioner from 1992-1994 and 2002-present. He is the only person to date to hold every rank in the NYPD.

After his handling of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for FBI Director. After turning down the position, Louis Freeh was appointed.

Kelly was also in the running to become the first Ambassador to Vietnam, after President Bill Clinton extended full diplomatic relations to that country in 1995.

Raymond W. Kelly

Personal

Kelly was born and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, to James F. Kelly, a milkman, and Elizabeth Kelly, a dressing-room checker at Macy's.

Education

Kelly graduated from academic and athletic powerhouse Archbishop Molloy High School in 1959. He holds a BBA from Manhattan College, a JD from St. John's University School of Law, an LLM from New York University School of Law and an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. He obtained his undergraduate and all graduate degrees while working for the New York City Police Department.

Additionally, Kelly has received honorary degrees from Marist College, Manhattan College, the College of St. Rose, St. John's University, the State University of New York, New York University and Pace University.

Military

File:RayKellyinVietnam1965.jpg

Kelly received his Commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the United States Marine Corps in 1963. In 1965, he went to the Republic of Vietnam with the 2nd Battalion 1st Marines. As a 1st Lieutenant in Vietnam, Kelly led troops in battle for most of his 12 months in country, including participation in Operation Harvest Moon. While in Vietnam, Kelly was interviewed near Phu Bai by a young reporter named Dan Rather. This was a foreshadowing of Kelly’s youngest son, Greg who would become an embedded journalist with the 3rd Infantry Division, becoming the first television journalist to televise pictures from Baghdad during the invasion of Iraq in 2003 almost 40 years later. Upon returning to the US, Kelly joined the reserves and retired as a Colonel from the Marine Corps Reserves after 30 years of service.

Policing

Kelly joined the New York City Police Department as a Police Cadet in 1960. He graduated first in his class from the New York City Police Academy and actually passed the sergeant's test before he even spent a day on the beat. He is the first person to hold the job of New York City Police Commissioner for two nonconsecutive terms.

First Deputy Commissioner

Ray Kelly was appointed first deputy commissioner on February 9, 1990, under former Houston Police Chief, and later Houston Mayor Lee Brown.

Kelly was promoted from a two-star assistant chief to the first deputy position over several three-star bureau chiefs, and the four-star chief of the department Robert J. Johnston Jr.

At the time Johnston was so powerful, Brown altered the traditional hierarchy by announcing that Johnston would report directly to the Police Commissioner rather than the first deputy as had been called for under the former departmental structure. This was to prevent Johnston from having to report to his former subordinate, Kelly.

37th NYC Police Commissioner

On October 16, 1992 Raymond Kelly was appointed the 37th Police Commissioner of the City of New York. He took over a Police department that was 11.5% black, in a city with over 25% black population. At 9am on his first full day as police commissioner, Kelly was on the “black-owned” radio station WLIB for 40 minutes talking to host Art Whaley, as well as callers, to discuss minority recruitment.

As the 37th Commissioner, Kelly saw the continued reduction of crime that started under Lee Brown’s Community Policing Concept. Crime continued to go down as Kelly aggressively pursued quality of life issues, such as the “squeegee men” that had become a sign of decay in the city. Kelly also lead the city through what was at the time, the worst terrorist attack on US soil, the World Trade Center bombing. Then Mayor David Dinkins was in Osaka, Japan during the bombing. After Mayor Dinkins defeat in his second campaign against Rudolph Giuliani, Mayor Giuliani replaced Kelly with Boston’s Police Chief Bill Bratton. An effort was made by the new administration to minimize the effects of the crime reducing strategies put in place, and to take credit for many of the successful efforts Kelly initiated.

41st NYC Police Commissioner

As Commissioner of the NYPD, Kelly has occasionally been the target of criticism, as for the department's handling of the protests surrounding the 2004 Republican National Convention. However, he has also received praise for revamping the department into a world class counter-terrorism operation. Prior to September 11th, 2001 there were fewer than two dozen officers working on terrorism full time; today, there are over 1,000.

One of Kelly's notable innovations is stationing New York detectives in cities throughout the world following terrorist attacks to determine if there are any connections to New York City. In the cases of both the March 11, 2004, Madrid bombing and the London bombings on July 7 and 21, 2005, NYPD detectives were on the scene within a day to relay pertinent information back to New York.

On March 5, 2007 it was announced that a Rikers Island inmate offered to pay an undercover police officer posing as a hit man to behead him as well as bomb police headquarters in retaliation for the controversial police shooting of Sean Bell.

Government

Ray Kelly has extensive federal credentials.

Director International Police Monitors

Mr. Kelly served as Director of the International Police Monitors of the Multinational Force in Haiti from October 1994 through March 1995. This U.S.-led force was responsible for ending human rights abuses and establishing an interim police force there. For his service in Haiti, President Clinton awarded Mr. Kelly a commendation for "exceptionally meritorious service". Kelly was also awarded the Commander's Award for Public Service by then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Shalikashvili.

Under Secretary for Enforcement

From 1996 to 1998, Kelly was Under Secretary for Enforcement at the United States Department of the Treasury. At that post he supervised the Department's enforcement bureaus, including the Customs Service, the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network, and the Office of Foreign Assets Control.

Interpol, Executive Committee

Kelly served on the executive committee and was elected Vice President for the Americas of Interpol from 1996-2000.

Commissioner US Customs Service

From 1998 – 2000, Commissioner of the U.S. Customs Service, where he managed the agency's 20,000 employees and $20 billion in annual revenue.

Private Sector

Kelly was Senior Managing Director for Global Securities for Bear Stearns from 2000 - 2001.

Awards

• Upon graduation from the New York City Police Academy Kelly won the Bloomingdale Trophy for the highest general average in shooting and in academic and physical prowess

• He has received 15 citations for meritorious service in the New York City Police Department

• Commander's Award for Public Service by then Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Shalikashvili in 1995.

• In 2003 the National Father’s Day Committee named Kelly Father of the Year.

• March 16, 2006 Kelly was named Irish American of the Year by Irish American Magazine.

• June 19, 2006, Commissioner Kelly received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York.

• On September 9, 2006, Kelly was awarded the Légion d'honneur during a ceremony at the French consulate in Manhattan presided over by Nicolas Sarkozy.

• Kelly has received honorary degrees from Marist College, Manhattan College, the College of St. Rose, St. John's University, the State University of New York, New York University and Pace University.

External Links

• On the Front Line in the War on Terrorism, City Journal, Summer 2007

Notes

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