James P. O'Neill

James Patrick "Jimmy" O'Neill Jr. is an American police officer who served as the 43rd Police Commissioner of New York City from September 2016 until November 2019. Prior to his appointment as Police Commissioner, O'Neill served as NYPD's Chief of Department, the highest uniformed position in the department, in 2014–2016.

In a meeting with the Mayor DeBlasio of October 31, 2019 O'Neill confirmed his intentions to depart the NYPD.On November 4, 2019 it was publicly announced that Dermot F. Shea would become the 44th Commissioner of the NYPD in a ceremony at 1 Police Plaza on December 1, 2019.

On November 6, 2019,O'Neill announced that he had accepted a position as Senior Vice President of Physical Security for the financial firm Visa. On April 1, 2020, it was announced that O'Neill would be appointed as an advisor on COVID-19.

O'Neill was born to an Irish American family, the fourth of seven children, to Helen and Joseph O'Neill. He was raised in the East Flatbush neighborhood of Brooklyn. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Government and a Master of Public Administration degree from John Jay College in New York City.

O'Neill joined the New York City Transit Police in 1983, and began his career as a patrolman in Transit District 1. He was promoted to Sergeant in September 1987 and to Lieutenant in April 1991. In 1995, the transit police were merged into the NYPD. In 1997 he was promoted to Captain. Additional promotions were to Deputy Inspector in December 2001, to Inspector in August 2003, and to Deputy Chief in October 2005. On June 2, 2014, O'Neill was promoted to Chief of Patrol. Several months later, in November 2014, he was promoted to Chief of Department. In September 2016 he became police commissioner. On November 4, 2019, O'Neill resigned his post as Police Commissioner (effective early December 2019) and was replaced by former Chief of Detectives Dermot Shea.

Promotion to Chief of Department

On October 28, 2014, O'Neill became the Chief of Department for the NYPD's 36,000 uniformed officers, the highest-ranking uniformed position.

Police commissioner

On August 2, 2016, O'Neill was appointed Police Commissioner of New York City by Mayor Bill de Blasio, effective September 2016. O'Neill was succeeded as Chief of Department by Carlos M. Gomez. On November 4, 2019, O'Neill announced his retirement as commissioner, and was replaced by former Chief of Detectives Dermot F. Shea at month-end.

O'Neill's quick adoption and wide deployment of vapor wake canines through locations in the city and transit hubs is proving to be providing valuable real-time intelligence that can stop threats before they become a danger as these dogs can track explosive trail to bombers and suicide bombers.