Local elected officials are calling for the resignation of New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban in the wake of a federal probe involving him and several top Adams administration advisers this week.
Caban’s cell phone and other electronics were seized and his home was searched on Thursday by federal investigators who also confiscated electronic devices from other top NYPD officials as well as Caban’s brother, James Caban, according to multiple sources.
No one targeted by the searches and seizures has been accused of wrongdoing.
But Queens Councilman Bob Holden, a conservative, pro-police Democrat, said the appearance of wide-ranging corruption in the NYPD means the top cop should step down.
“Even the appearance of impropriety casts a dark shadow over the integrity of our police department,” Holden said in a statement. “The magnitude of this issue is too significant, causing far too many distractions, and for the good of both the department and the city, the police commissioner should resign.”
When asked on a Friday evening appearance on PIX11 if he had full confidence in Caban, Mayor Adams replied: “Yes, I do.”
“Commissioner Caban could continue to perform the job,” Adams said.
Lincoln Restler, a progressive Council member representing north Brooklyn, also said Caban should be removed from his position.
“Police Commissioner Edward Caban must go,” Restler said in a tweet. “The NYPD partners with FBI all day to keep New Yorkers safe and their leader cannot do his job if he’s an FBI target.”
Queens Councilwoman Tiffany Caban, a democratic socialist and former public defender, agreed the commissioner should resign.
“Commissioner Caban’s failures are a product of personal failures, systemic failures and the failures of this mayor,” said the Council member, who sits on the Council’s Public Safety Committee, which has jurisdiction over the NYPD. “Commissioner Caban should resign, but simply changing top brass won’t resolve those failures.”
Jack Jaskaran, a retired NYPD Captain who now works as a lawyer, called for immediate independent oversight of the NYPD.
“If a federal agency conducted a search warrant on a police officer’s home, the NYPD’s Internal Affairs Bureau would have stripped that officer of their gun and badge and removed them from police duties pending the outcome of the investigation,” Jaskaran said. “Why is the same standard not applicable to the police commissioner?”
One senior Council member who did not call on the police commissioner to resign was Gale Brewer.
“Innocent until proven guilty,” said the Upper West Side Democrat who chairs the Council’s Investigations and Oversight Committee.