Fordham Law alumnus Benjamin Tucker ’81 has been appointed the new First Deputy Commissioner of the New York City Police Department by Police Commissioner William J. Bratton. Tucker most recently served as the NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Training. He will now serve as the second highest ranking member of the department and as chief advisor to the Police Commissioner.
“Ben Tucker has been a New York police officer and has worked on a national level in the areas of substance abuse and community policing,” said Police Commissioner Bratton. “Ben has been in charge of School Safety in this city and served as Deputy Director of the Civilian Complaint Review Board. He has a background in law and has been a teacher. In short, he has comprehensive understanding of crime, drug abuse, youth and the law. These areas make up the essential challenges facing police and our communities, and there are few who could bring as much to the table as Ben Tucker in the number two job in the nation’s premier police department. I am proud to have Ben as my First Deputy Police Commissioner.”
Tucker began his law enforcement career with the NYPD in 1969 as a police trainee and was sworn in as a police officer in 1972. During his policing career, he served as School Task Force Officer and Gang Intervention Officer, instructor in the Police Academy and legal advisor under the Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters. He also served as Assistant Director of the Civilian Complaint Review Board; Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Services in the New York City Mayor’s Office of Operations; Deputy Director for Operations in the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) within the U.S. Department of Justice and Chief Executive for School Safety and Planning in the New York City Department of Education.
“I will use all my skills and experience to help move the NYPD forward,” Tucker said.
His training and experience led to senior executive positions in both the Koch and Bloomberg administrations and later in the administration of President Clinton. Under President Clinton’s administration, he served as the Deputy Director of the COPS Office which was created to implement the President’s commitment to hire 100,000 police officers. He also oversaw the creation of the network of Regional Community Policing Institutes which provided training across the country on community policing strategies.
In 2009, President Obama nominated First Deputy Commissioner Tucker as Deputy Director for State, Local, and Tribal Affairs and he was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. This position included him directing the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Areas (HIDTA) program and coordinating federal, state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies in their efforts to dismantle and disrupt drug trafficking.
First Deputy Commissioner Tucker rejoined the Department in January 2014 as Deputy Commissioner of Training.
Prior to rejoining the NYPD, he was a tenured professor at Pace University where he lectured on subjects such as criminal justice, police management and constitutional and criminal law.
Tucker holds a B.S. in criminal justice from John Jay College in addition to his J.D. for Fordham Law.