This archive report was first published on 4 November 2019.
On Monday, James P. O'Neill, the New York City police commissioner, is expected to step down from his position, ending a three-year tenure marked by controversy and tumult. Firing a police officer who placed Eric Garner in a lethal chokehold five years earlier was a defining moment in his tenure.
Commissioner O'Neill, 62, initially aimed to heal strained relations between the Police Department and black and Hispanic communities in a growing city of 8.6 million residents. His signature intervention, the department's neighborhood policing program, was designed to build trust and respect between officers and civilians.
Despite his efforts, Commissioner O'Neill's tenure was marred by controversy. He held the line on violent crime, securing the gains of previous commissioners and presiding over an era of low crime, with murder rates dipping to lows not seen since the 1950s.
Commissioner O'Neill also took public stands aimed at redressing past controversies, apologizing to the L.G.B.T.Q. community for the department's handling of the Stonewall uprising in 1969 and issuing a public apology to a woman who was maligned by police officials after she had been raped in Prospect Park.
Commissioner O'Neill is expected to be replaced by Dermot F. Shea, the current chief of detectives, according to a City Hall official.
