NYPD groups push Hispanic as next commissioner

The Leader-Herald
Associated Press
Posted: October 20, 2013

NEW YORK (AP) — Three Hispanic groups in the New York Police Department are urging the next mayor to appoint the city’s first Hispanic police commissioner.

Members of the Hispanic Society, the National Latino Officers Association and the New York Dominican Officers Organization held a news conference in front of police headquarters Sunday to propose a candidate.

They want First Deputy Commissioner Rafael Pineiro to replace NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly in January, when a new mayor is sworn in.

Neither major-party candidate — Republican Joseph Lhota and Democrat Bill de Blasio — has mentioned any Hispanic names as possible candidates.

Detective Dennis Gonzales, president of the Hispanic Society, says a member of a minority community might have a better understanding of controversial issues such as the NYPD’s street stop policy.