(Reuters) - New York Mayor Eric Adams on Monday appointed acting police chief Edward Caban as the city's first Hispanic police commissioner in its 178-year history, overseeing the largest police department in the U.S.
Adams, a former New York City police captain, introduced Caban, 55, during a news conference and said Caban has been instrumental to the department's efforts to decrease crime following the COVID-19 pandemic.
"Commissioner Caban is truly one of New York's finest, a leader who understands the importance of both safety and justice," Adams said, noting that major crimes are down across the city this summer.
The amount of crime is down in New York City over the last three months, including a 17% decrease in shootings and a 3% drop homicides in June compared to same month in 2022, department data showed.
Caban stepped in following last month's surprise resignation of Keechant Sewell, the first woman to lead the department, after 18 months in the job. She gave no reason for stepping down.
Caban began his police career in 1991 as a patrol officer in the South Bronx and hails from a family of police officers, including his father, a former New York City Transit detective, and three brothers who joined the city's police department.
In 1994, he was promoted to sergeant and then lieutenant in 1999.
His career began as a "young Puerto Rican kid from Parkchester, standing on a foot post in the South Bronx, just like thousands who came before me and thousands who came after me," he said, flanked by his father. "In those days, the top bosses in this department didn't really look like me."
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago; editing by Susan Heavey and Josie Kao)
