The new head of the NYPD’s community policing initiative has 31 years on the force, is fluent in three languages, and grew up in a Manhattan housing project.
Chief Thomas Chan, 55, the first Asian-American to be made a two-star NYPD chief, will be elevated to command of the Community Affairs Bureau during a promotion ceremony Friday, police said. He is currently commanding officer of Patrol Borough Brooklyn South.
He’ll succeed Chief Philip Banks III, who was named chief of department — the highest uniformed position in the NYPD — on March 27.
As head of the Community Affairs Bureau, Chan will oversee a stable of cops throughout the city who are tasked solely with fostering good will between the department and community leaders, civic organizations and the general public. In addition to the Community Affairs Bureau, Chan will also oversee the Juvenile Justice Division, which includes 5,000 school safety agents.
“Chief Chan has demonstrated throughout his career the ability to build bridges between the police department and New York City’s richly diverse communities,” NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly said in a statement Thursday announcing Chan’s impending promotion.
Chan, a graduate of the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in Manhattan, is fluent in English, Cantonese and Toisan. He was raised in the Alfred E. Smith Houses on the Lower East Side. He joined the force in 1982, assigned initially to a beat in Manhattan, after a period spent working as city paramedic.
