The new police commissioner is no stranger to the Bronx, as are a major number of high ranking brass now helping him run the department.

Days before he was named by outgoing Police Commissioner Bill Bratton to succeed him, then NYPD Chief of Department James O’Neill stood before a convention of community and ethnic press invited to hear from him.

Asked about noise issues in Norwood, he quickly smiled and revealed he knew Norwood well. He had been the second in command at its precinct.

“I was the captain of the Five-Two in 1998,” O’Neill said, referring to his time as the precinct’s executive officer. “I had quite a few interactions with Bishop [John] Jenik. A guy who really cares about his community.”

For O’Neill, the architect behind the Neighborhood Coordination Officer program, the transition has appeared smooth. He relieves Commissioner Bill Bratton whose crime fighting approach reflected O’Neill’s. In prepared remarks after being sworn in, O’Neill said the crime fighting “profession is no longer just about law enforcement.”

“For too long, this department was focused on how many arrests individual cops had made, and how many summonses they’d written,” O’Neil said. “No longer.”

The road to O’Neill’s prestigious post included a stint at the Five-Two, a busy precinct where some troubled neighborhoods outnumber quieter areas of the precinct. It’s nothing compared to the 44th Precinct, where O’Neill served as its commanding officer.

Indeed, the Bronx is responsible for the rise of a number of NYPD brass who have spent a couple of tours in the borough.

O’Neill’s replacement as chief of department is Carlos Gomez, whose success in knocking down crime as Bronx Borough commander helped him rise to chief of patrol and up to the new post.

Besides O’Neill and Gomez, two deputy commissioners and five bureau chiefs now running the NYPD rose from the Bronx.

That includes Deputy Commissioner for Internal Affairs Joseph Reznick, formerly head of Bronx detectives, and Deputy Commissioner Dermot Shea, deputy commissioner for operations.

Add two other former Bronx Borough commanders – Tom Purtell, chief of citywide operations, and Joanne Jaffe, chief of community affairs, as well as former chief of Bronx detectives Robert Boyce, now chief of citywide detectives.

Rounding out the list of former Bronx commanders are newly named chief of patrol Terrence Monahan, and Thomas Galati, chief of intelligence.

“It gotten to the point where 1 Police Plaza has become Bronx Borough South,” Mike Bosak, retired NYPD sergeant and unofficial NYPD historian, said. “It seems the Bronx has become the training ground for rising stars in the department.”

Most of those borough alumni who rose to the top, Bosak added, ran Bronx commands when crime was still in the higher numbers in the borough, “though it was also seeing dramatic decreases. You can give a lot of credit to these commanders for the jobs they did back then.”

O’Neill was officially sworn in to the post on Sept. 19 relieving Bill Bratton. His sentiments reflected Bratton’s perception of crimefighting.

With additional reporting by Bob Kappstatter

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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.