Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has not publicly expressed an opinion on his successor, but it does speak volumes that he's relegating his still-TBD replacement's transition team to a trailer well beyond the securely-guarded doors of 1 Police Plaza.
Transition teams have in the past been allowed to set up shop inside police headquarters, but Kelly, it seems, would prefer the newcomers stay far, far away from NYPD business. The team will have to be screened with each entry and exit from the building, just like the rest of the unwashed masses, and they'll be closely watched by NYPD surveillance cameras, DNAinfo reports.
Kelly has had little contact with Mayor-elect Bill de Blasio, who has made clear that Kelly and his zeal for stop-and-frisk will no longer be welcome when he takes office in January. Former mayor Rudy Giuliani yesterday endorsed former NYPD commissioner Bill Bratton to reassume the post he held between 1994 and 1996, saying that he would "make an excellent police commissioner." He also had kind words for another frontrunner, Chief of Department Philip Banks, calling him a "terrific candidate."
“You have a choice between someone that's newer and has a bunch of new ideas like Chief Banks — who's an excellent choice — or someone like Bill Bratton who's been in New York and Los Angeles,” he said.
The trailer is equipped with amenities like a conference area, a coffee room and cubicles, but there's little doubt that the banishing isn't without symbolism. "There is something negative about a new team being put in a trailer by the old team," one official told the news site. "A trailer has certain connotations, and none of them are good." Clearly, this "official" needs to get out more.
