As Bratton’s Successor, O’Neill Is Rising to Critical Job at Key Time

By Jim Dwyer

Mayor Bill de Blasio just shrank the chances of one especially piercing political headache in an election year: Almost surely, he won’t have the departing police commissioner, William J. Bratton, shooting at him from the weeds.

Mr. Bratton groomed and positioned a successor, James P. O’Neill, the current chief of department, and on Tuesday, the mayor announced that Chief O’Neill would be the next commissioner.

Probably the last person in the world that Mr. de Blasio wanted as a critic was his former police commissioner.

Mr. Bratton, who will turn 69 later this year, wanted to make money in the private sector before he retires, said two of his friends, who asked not to be named. But he also wanted to consolidate the reforms he had begun. 

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Source: The New York Times