Former NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea’s rookie son landed a promotion after just 18 months as a cop — in a surprise move that has some in the department crying foul.
Richard Shea, 23, is getting moved from patrolman to a detective unit in NYPD’s 23rd precinct in East Harlem effective Monday, according to an internal NYPD memo obtained by The Post.
Shea joined the department in November 2020 and completed his six months at the police academy May 10, 2021, according to his NYPD officer profile.
Since he began working his beat as a patrolman he’s racked up 32 arrests. He’s also received no awards and no additional training.
The fast-tracked promotion of a rookie fresh out of the police academy to an investigative unit is virtually unheard of — with the move to detective rarely occurring before at least three years, sources said.
“Nobody gets it that fast unless there’s an exceptional circumstance,” a police source told The Post. “You get into a shootout and your partner gets killed and you kill the bad guy. Then they’d probably bump you to detective. But he’s just out of the academy. What could he possibly know? It’s bullsh–t. You can’t get it in a year and a half.”
Another police source blasted the promotion as “nepotism.
Shea’s promotion has irked some officers at the department. Google Maps“So to get into an investigative track unit with that little time only happens two ways without question: You either know somebody that hooked you in, or you get into some high-profile shooting or do something newsworthy and did a great job. No one has issues with the latter.
“I bet you there are guys in the 23 that have been waiting years to get into the squad,” the sourced went on. “Not to mention there’s no way this kid knows enough about patrol to even understand how to do detective work.”
The NYPD, asked for comment on Richard Shea’s promotion, said the department is short of detectives.
“There is currently a shortage of more than 500 detectives in the Detective Bureau,” a spokeswoman said in a statement.
“The NYPD is actively working to fill this shortage through identifying and vetting appropriate candidates.”
The statement went on to explain that Shea “should not be disqualified for a position he was qualified” for because he’s the former commissioner’s son and that he was not “held to any lesser standard than any of the other candidates.”
He is being assigned to the Detective Bureau as a police officer and will be promoted to a 3rd Grade Detective — the lowest grade — after completing at least 18 months of investigative work that will be evaluated before he can be promoted, the statement said.
John Macari Jr., a former NYPD lieutenant and a trustee for the-National Coalition of Front Line Workers, decried the move as a clear case of nepotism in a social-media post, and said it represents “a failure in leadership.
“I’m not knocking the Kid. I hope he has a safe & successful career but his father & the leadership of this department failed him & the men & women of the NYPD. This lowers morale for all. I’m not saying not to hook your kid up, I’m saying just make it look good,” Macari tweeted.
Dermot Shea was named NYPD commissioner by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2019 to replace outgoing top cop James O’Neill. Shea, like his predecessor, was considered a protégé of Bill Bratton.
Dermot Shea, 53, retired from the post in December 2021 after incoming Mayor Eric Adams named Keechant Sewell as the new commissioner.
James Shea, the commissioner’s older brother by seven years, now serves as Jersey City’s public safety director after more than 20 years in the NYPD.
