A newly released Department of Investigation report has found that New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio misused his NYPD security detail for personal and political purposes on numerous occasions, and that the NYPD official in charge of the detail made attempts to cover it up and block the investigation.
The report, released on Thursday, named Inspector Howard Redmond as the official who “actively obstructed and sought to thwart” the investigation.
According to NBC 4, the DOI said in a news conference that they would refer Redmond’s case to the Manhattan district attorney’s office for possible criminal prosecution.
The 47-page report comes nearly two years after allegations were raised against de Blasio for reportedly used his security detail to bring his son, Dante de Blasio, back to Yale University in New Haven, Conn.
The report states that there were “numerous instances when EPU members transported mayoral staffers to various locations, including to their homes, and assisted them in running errands for the Mayor.”
There were also “several instances when the security detail was asked to transport guests of the Mayor, at his direction, without him present in the vehicle.”
“EPU members occasionally transported Mayor de Blasio’s campaign staffers while driving the Mayor. Both reflect a use of NYPD resources for political purposes,” the report stated.
“DOI learned that Dante continued to be transported, on request, by members of the EPU when he returned to New York City on breaks from school and after graduating in 2019,” the report states, noting that his standing detail was dissolved in 2015.
The report also noted an occasion that security detail members assisted de Blasio’s daughter Chiara de Blasio with moving a futon.
“Protecting the mayor and his family is a serious and significant job that should be guided by best practices, formalized procedures, and an understanding that security details are not personal assistants in a dignitary’s daily life but provide essential protection,” DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett said in a statement.
The report also took a strong stance against Redmond, stating that he attempted to destroy evidence pertaining to the investigation.
“Inspector Redmond sought to obstruct this investigation by refusing to provide his City-Hall-issued phone for production, deliberately seeking to destroy his NYPD-issued phone after he was informed that he must surrender it for production to DOI, and deleting all communications from both phones before they could be provided to DOI,” it said.
“These actions are a continuation of his conduct during his sworn DOI interview, in which he demonstrated a lack of candor, repeatedly claimed he could not recall the facts around matters under his direct supervision, and gave multiple answers that were not credible in light of the objective evidence and the sworn statements of other witnesses,” the report continued.
The mayor’s office offered its criticism of the investigation, calling the report “inaccurate,” and based on “illegitimate assumptions.”
“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,” City Hall said.
