NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio accused of misusing security detail
NEW YORK - A new report from the New York City Department of Investigation found that Mayor Bill de Blasio's security detail was misused for personal use, from helping his daughter with her personal belongings during a move to driving his son back and forth from Yale University several times.
The 47-page report said that the NYPD paid for approximately $319,794.20 for Mayor de Blasio's security detail to travel outside of New York City during his short, ill-fated presidential campaign and does not include staff salary or overtime costs. To date, the city has not been reimbursed for these expenditures, the report found.
The New York City Police Department Executive Protection Unit is tasked with providing protection for the mayor. It is also used to protect the mayor's immediate family when deemed necessary.
The report also lists several occasions when the EPU was used to run errands for the mayor and conduct security checks on his home in Brooklyn.
Inspector Howard Redmond, who is in charge of the detail, "actively obstructed and sought to thwart the investigation."
This comes as de Blasio has not ruled out a run for governor of New York.
"I want to do more in public service," said de Blasio during a briefing Wednesday.
Get breaking news alerts in the free FOX5NY News app! | Sign up for FOX 5 email newsletters
A spokesperson for the mayor responded to the report Thursday shortly after the DOI report was released. The response was the same as another statement sent to news outlets in July.
"Intelligence and security experts should decide how to keep the mayor and his family safe, not civilian investigators. This unprofessional report purports to do the NYPD’s job for them, but with none of the relevant expertise – and without even interviewing the official who heads intelligence for the City. As a result, we are left with an inaccurate report, based on illegitimate assumptions and a naïve view of the complex security challenges facing elected officials today."
"My first responsibility is as a father and a husband and so I think about the safety of my family all the time," said de Blasio during a briefing from City Hall. "The ultimate decisions when it comes to safety must be made by security experts. The ultimate decisions on how to align security, how to protect those chosen by the people to lead need to be made by the NYPD. Anyone who wants to understand those choices, or what the priorities are, or what works or what's been learned after years of fighting terrorism and now the internal violence in this country, should turn to the NYPD. Very strangely the DOI did not do that even though I made abundantly clear who I turn to."
"The allegations are very, very serious," said Democratic strategist Hank Sheinkopf. "We had a state comptroller named Allen Hevesi who was accused of similar things--misuse of drivers for the comptroller's office who shuttled his wife and family members around-- he went to jail."
It would be up to the Manhattan District Attorney or the Brooklyn District Attorney to determine whether to further investigate the allegations.