The NY Post reports that Thursday morning two high-ranking NYPD officials have been stripped of their guns and badges after an FBI investigation into corruption allegations.
Police Commissioner William Bratton announced that both Deputy NYPD Inspector James Grant, the commander of the 19th Precinct in the Upper East Side, and Deputy Housing Chief Mike Harrington have been transferred and placed on modified duty.
Deputy Inspector James Grant has been stripped of his gun and badge.
At a press conference Bratton said, “This is not a particularly good day for the department.”
The federal probe is investigating 20 NYPD cops about gifts and foreign trips they may have received from businessme–in particular power broker Jeremy Reichberg and Upper West Side developer Jona Rechnitz–as bribes for favors.
Cops are not supposed to accept outside gifts worth more than $50.
The Post reported that James Grant had accepted diamonds and cash from a businessman shortly before Bratton’s announcement that he and Harrington were being punished.
Two other officials were transferred from their positions amid the federal probe, Deputy Chief Eric Rodriguez, who was second in command at Patrol Borough Brooklyn South, and Deputy Chief David Colon, the commanding officer of the Brooklyn Housing.
According to Bratton, the corruption investigation began in 2013 with the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau. Then, the FBI and Department of Justice began their own investigations in early 2014.
“This joint investigation has been going for some time now and is continuing,” wrote Bratton in a statement. “We will follow the leads wherever they take us.”
None of the officers have been charged criminally.
