By CONNOR RYAN
John Carroll, Fordham’s associate vice president of Safety and Security and a 30-year veteran of the New York Police Department, said he applauds Mayor Bill de Blasio’s appointment of Police Commissioner William Bratton as “an exceptional decision,” in an email to The Fordham Ram.
John Carroll in his Rose Hill office. (Daniel Murray/The Ram)
“Bratton is a consummate professional, who will not let New York City slide backwards to the bad old days,” Carroll said.
Though, he added, the former commissioner will be missed. “I think it was sad that Ray Kelly, who worked seven days a week and twelve hours a day, got painted with this stop-and-frisk brush, instead of being thanked for driving homicides down to the 1950s levels.”
Carroll has worked at Fordham for just over 20 years — going back to when Bratton first served as police commissioner from 1994 to 1996 under Mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Carroll says he is “personal friends” with Bratton’s top advisors, but he did not say whether he has ever met Bratton.
“[Bratton] believes in a collegial style of police management,” Carroll said, adding that Fordham will maintain its “strong relationships” within the NYPD, which extend from local detectives to narcotics special victims and precinct commanders to top borough commanders in the Bronx and Manhattan.
Police Commissioner William Bratton.
But Carroll did hint that he may be concerned about Mayor de Blasio’s future oversight of the NYPD.
“The only unknown is whether the mayor will give the commissioner the needed freedom to effectively police,” he said. “Mayor Bloomberg gave Ray Kelly total freedom. Mayor de Blasio appears to want to be more involved than Bloomberg was in how the police department operates.”
He added: “Only time will tell which position works best for the citizens of New York City.”
Mayor de Blasio’s office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday afternoon.
Before arriving at Fordham, Carroll worked for 30 years as a commanding officer of the 41st Precinct in the South Bronx and the commander of Manhattan South Detectives Homicide Task Force.
Ray Kelly has been to Fordham’s campus several times, and his son, Greg Kelly — now a co-host of “Good Day New York” on FOX — is a graduate of the university.
Bratton has said he will work to mend the divisive stop-and-frisk police tactic, as well as boost relations between communities and police officers.
“We will all work hard to identify why it is that so many in this city do not feel good about this department that has done so much to make them safe,” he said soon after he was sworn in on Thursday. “What has it been about our activities that have made so many feel alienated?”
