New York City Police Commissioner Ray Kelly is currently under fire after a year of crimes and controversies rocked his department. Commissioner Kelly’s law enforcement career has included over forty years on the force, two stints as the city’s top cop, service in Vietnam, a mission in Haiti and time on Wall Street. Here’s our look at the highs and lows of a life of police work. (Photo: Getty)
Ray Kelly was born in 1941 and grew up on the Upper West Side. His mother worked at Macy's and his father was a milkman. Commissioner Kelly's family eventually moved to Queens where he attended Archbishop Molloy High School. After high school, Commissioner Kelly moved on to Manhattan College in Riverdale. During college, Commissioner Kelly joined the inaugural class of the New York City Police Cadet Corps. He graduated in 1963, two years before former Mayor Rudy Giuliani. (Photo: Getty)
Commissioner Kelly was appointed to the NYPD in 1963. He accepted a commission in the Marine Corps Officer Program and served for three years including a stint in Vietnam prior to entering the Police Academy. " "I remember young Marines being killed, being maimed. … I remember piles of body bags after big operations," Commissioner Kelly said in a 2009 interview with CBS News' Dan Rather. After returning from Vietnam, he went to Police Academy and graduated first in his class in 1967. (CBS News)
Commissioner Kelly was first appointed Police Commissioner of New York by former Mayor David Dinkins (pictured above) in 1992. His tenure included the first World Trade Center bombing in 1993. That same year, he was mentioned as a possible pick to direct the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Following the election of Mayor Giuliani in 1994, Commissioner Kelly was replaced by Bill Bratton. He was subsequently selected to serve as Director of the International Police Monitors in Haiti, which was tasked with maintaining order in that country in the wake of the U.S. military's Operation Uphold Democracy, which removed the military junta that had ruled Haiti for three years. President Clinton presented Commissioner Kelly with the Exceptionally Meritorious Service Commendation for his work in Haiti. (Photo: Getty)
Commissioner Kelly served as Under Secretary for Enforcement at the U.S. Treasury Department from 1996 until 1998 where he supervised the U.S. Customs Service, the U.S. Secret Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center. He then spent a year as U.S. Customs Commissioner. In March 2001, he entered the private sector working as the Senior Managing Director of Global Corporate Security at the investment bank Bear, Stearns & Co. Inc. Commissioner Kelly said he decided to return to public service following the September 11th attacks. "When you're in government, you don't have much money, but you do have a certain amount of power. You have the ability to make a difference, and I knew at that moment that's what mattered most," he told New York Magazine. (Photo: Getty)
After Mayor Bloomberg was elected in November 2001, he put Commissioner Kelly back in the NYPD's top job. One of Commissioner Kelly's first acts was establishing a dedicated NYPD counterterrorism unit. (Photo: Getty)
During the year leading up to the 2004 Republican convention, the NYPD conducted widespread spying on potential protesters. Commissioner Kelly later drew criticism for the aggressive surveillance activities and mass arrests that occurred during the convention. (Photo: Getty)
On November 25, 2006, a team of undercover NYPD officers fired over fifty shots into a car carrying Sean Bell and two of his friends on the night of his bachelor party. Bell was killed leading to widespread protests against the NYPD. All of the officers involved in the shooting were acquitted of criminal charges, but a subsequent civil case resulted in over $7 million in damages against the City of New York. (Photo: Getty)
Recently, Commissioner Kelly has increasingly become a fixture on the city's nightlife and social scenes. In 2011, he's turned up at the White House Correspondents' Dinner, the Tribeca Film Festival and amfAR's Fashion Week gala. (Photo: Getty)
This year has been a rough one for Commissioner Kelly. In May, a pair of officers were fired after accusations they raped a woman. Three months later, the department was rocked by another high profile rape allegation. September found the department getting more unwanted attention after Officer Anthony Bologna was filmed pepper spraying Occupy Wall Street protesters. Last month, Commissioner Kelly was forced to testify before the City Council about reports the NYPD spied on Muslims, Officer Michael Daragjati was charged with civil rights violations for allegedly racist behavior during a stop-and-frisk, a group of officers were charged with several crimes including gun trafficking and, lastly, 16 officers were indicted after a three year investigation into ticket fixing. November has been a quiet month for the NYPD--so far. (Photo: Getty)
