Councilman questions ‘loaning’ cops to City Hall, agencies under Mayor Adams

City Council member Robert Holden sent a letter to Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch Friday raising questions about the Adams administration practice of “loaning” active-duty police officers to City Hall or other agencies.

Holden’s missive stemmed from a report in the Daily News that Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Kaz Daughtry was retiring from the NYPD while in the civilian City Hall role — notably, with his time as a civilian evidently counted toward the 20 years required for full pension vesting as a cop.

Daughtry joined the NYPD on Jan. 9, 2006, and is slated to retire on Jan. 8, 2026 — a period of exactly 20 years. He was a detective when Adams was elected and rose to deputy commissioner of operations, during which he controversially continued to earn overtime, before the City Hall post.

Holden wrote that his inquiry was part of a “broader fact-finding effort.” The term-limited councilman from Queens is in the final month of his tenure.

“I am reaching out because recent media reporting has raised questions about the structure, oversight and fiscal implications of assignments in which uniformed members of the NYPD are detailed or ‘loaned’ to civilian, administrative or policy roles within City Hall or other city agencies,” Holden wrote.

Notably, Holden asked whether there were oversight mechanisms to make sure that these assignments are “used appropriately and do not permit individuals to avoid police accountability while still retaining the benefits associated with uniformed status.”

And he asked Tisch how pension calculations are handled for uniformed members serving in long-term civilian or policy roles, like Daughtry, including policies on final average salary, overtime and service credit accrual.

In addition to Daughtry, Probation Commissioner Juanita Holmes was technically still with the NYPD while in that role, a fact revealed when she put in her papers for a Nov. 28 retirement date. She had retired from the NYPD in 2018, then returned in 2020 to run the Police Academy during the Adams administration before being bounced for allowing rapper Cardi B to address recruits. Holmes then landed at Probation where her tenure has been rocky.

Mona Suazo, an NYPD sergeant, was an assistant in City Hall to former Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks. Mayor Adams promoted her to assistant deputy mayor for public safety, a specially created position, after Banks’ departure. Suaz is now retired.

Police sources said other cops assigned in administrative roles included a lieutenant assigned to Ingrid Lewis-Martin, the former top Adams adviser who is now under indictment, Matt Fraser, the commissioner of the Office of Information and Technology, and others even in the Sanitation Department.

Meanwhile, the declining level of uniformed staffing and forced overtime have been matters of concern among the rank and file.

“Please be referred to the Pension Fund,” a police spokesperson wrote in an email without addressing any of the questions from The News.

It’s unclear how many other cops fall within this special category. But Holden said a concern is that the political appointees receive favorable benefits over rank-and-file cops who, for example, have far less say in their work and vacation schedules.

Holden asked Tisch for the number of cops “currently assigned or detailed to civilian or policy roles at City Hall, other agencies or non-operational NYPD bureaus with details on their salary.”

He also asked how the NYPD decides when these individuals are acting in a police or civilian role as it relates to discipline, how a civilian complaint would be classified.

He also asked what oversight agency would investigate a complaint against one of these individuals.

“As a Council Member responsible for oversight and stewardship of taxpayer resources,” Holden wrote, “I want to ensure I have a clear understanding of how these assignments are structured and managed.”