Three top NYPD execs are collecting hefty pensions from their time on the force in addition to six-figure salaries for their current civilian roles — including the man tasked with keeping cops honest, Internal Affairs boss Joseph Reznick, a Post review has found.
And despite carrying the lofty title, the trio isn’t even technically deputy commissioners by the letter of the City Charter, which the department has apparently flouted for years to swell its well-compensated executive ranks.
The Post uncovered the dual incomes of Reznick, Deputy Commissioner of Labor Relations John Beirne and Deputy Commissioner for Employee Relations Robert Ganley through a review of payroll and pension records — just weeks after exclusively reporting that former NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan was also double-dipping in his new City Hall gig.
Reznick, 70, started pulling in a $177,825.72 annual pension 19 months after changing titles from chief of internal affairs to deputy commissioner of internal affairs in March 2014, according to public data and pension records obtained through the state Freedom of Information Law.
Public payroll records show that that’s on top of a current $241,116 salary for Reznick, whose tumultuous tenure has recently included using controversial facial recognition software to identify cops caught drinking en route to a slain colleague’s funeral, and overseeing the questionable use of subpoenas in internal probes to obtain reporters’ records.
The now-civilian IAB head brags in his LinkedIn profile how his post was specifically created for him “due to a ridiculous restricted age requirement” capping uniformed service at 63.
“This new title basically allows me to work in my current assignment with no ‘age limit’ applied,” wrote Reznick.
But the title change also allowed Reznick to collect both his pension and salary in 2016, despite continuing to work in an identical role — which, according to a department profile, prioritizes “preserving integrity … and fighting corruption within the NYPD.”
Asked about the double-dipping, NYPD spokesman John Miller praised Reznick as “one of the most talented investigators” in the department.
“Having the executive who is regarded as the most experienced investigator in the executive ranks head internal simply underscores the department’s commitment to ensuring we conduct the most extensive investigations when it comes to policing our own,” Miller said.
Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton, who appointed Reznick, did not return phone calls seeking comment.
In addition to Reznick, the 83-year-old Beirne and Ganley, 67, both collect two paychecks.
Currently, Beirne pulls in a $241,116 salary and has taken home an additional $110,195 for his pension each year since 2001, records show.
Ganley started collecting a $127,541 annual pension in 2019, 14 months after being appointed, and currently makes a $245,438 annual salary.
Miller applauded the three men, saying that they could have left for “more lucrative” gigs in the private sector, but decided “to remain [in public service] at the request of multiple police commissioners because of their unique talents and abilities.”
“[They], under the civil service law, are entitled to the pensions that they earned,” he said.
No approval from the city or state was required for the double income, since each man turned 65 the year he started drawing his pension, according to a spokesman for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services — even though they were still working for the same agency.
The double-dipping rubbed some department insiders the wrong way.
“I was under the impression that your pension was suspended while you were employed in those roles,” one “furious” police source told The Post.
Another insider called the double pay “crazy” — but said that they weren’t surprised.
“There [are] always secret deals made here,” the source said.
Details of Reznick’s appointment also revealed the creative book-keeping technique the NYPD has used for years to add to its upper ranks as it sees fit.
The department appeared to be able to shift Reznick to a civilian post by categorizing his role in the city payroll system not as deputy commissioner — as he’s publicly referred to — but as director of internal affairs, according to records obtained from DCAS through the Freedom of Information Law.
Under the City Charter, “The [NYPD] commissioner shall have the power to appoint and at pleasure remove seven deputies, one to be known as first deputy commissioner.”
But currently, the department’s executive team includes 17 “deputy commissioners” including Reznick, Beirne and Ganley, some of them among the most generously compensated employees in the NYPD.
The DCAS records list only five people as deputy commissioners — Miller, Ben Tucker, Chauncey Parker, Richard Esposito and Rosemarie Maldonado — while the other 12 have titles such as executive agency counsel, administrative public information specialist and administrative staff analyst.
The revelation that some of the police execs are publicly referred to as deputy commissioners but actually beyond the City Charter limit left experts questioning their legal power.
Former NYPD officer-turned-attorney Jack Jaskaran contended, for example, that the distinction invalidates the tens of thousands administrative subpoenas signed off on by Deputy Commissioner for Legal Matters Judge Ernest Hart.
“Every single subpoena that his office ever issued has been invalid to begin with,” said Jaskaran. “Even internally when it’s being used properly for internal investigations.”
The department has argued that its subpoena power, which operates without judicial oversight, is codified in the City Administrative Code, which reads, “The commissioner, and his or her deputies may in proper cases issue subpoena duces tecum.”
Hart, though, is an executive agency counsel, not a true deputy commissioner, according to city records.
“Only a lawfully appointed deputy commissioner can issue subpoenas,” said Jaskaran. “They do not have the power of the deputy commissioner, but they are being called that.”
The Post revealed last year that the NYPD has issued more than 200,000 subpoenas for data and phone records over the past decade.
In one of the internal probes, The Post’s Police Bureau Chief Tina Moore had her Twitter data subpoenaed.
In another case in which IAB cops were searching for the person responsible for leaking the mugshot of actor Cuba Gooding Jr., Daily Mail reporter Shawn Cohen’s phone records were turned over to the NYPD through a subpoena without his knowledge.
The NYPD did not directly answer inquiries about the executives’ titles, the City Charter limits or questions about the execs’ power, with Miller instead suggesting that the titles were irrelevant so long as the people holding them served the city.
“Whatever their title, our NYPD executives are leaders who work tirelessly to provide safe neighborhoods for all New Yorkers,” he said.
This post first appeared on Nypost.com
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