THE NEW YORK TIMES – Bernard B. Kerik, the New York City police commissioner who was hailed as a hero for overseeing the department’s response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center, only to fall from grace after he pleaded guilty to federal corruption and tax crimes, died on Thursday. He was 69.
Kash Patel, the director of the F.B.I., announced Mr. Kerik’s death in a post on X. He said the former commissioner died “after a private battle with illness.”
A cocksure high school dropout with a black belt in karate, shaved head and bulging biceps, Mr. Kerik vaulted to senior public posts as a disciple of Rudolph W. Giuliani after serving as Mr. Giuliani’s bodyguard during his successful 1993 mayoral campaign.
In 1997, after Mr. Kerik rose through the ranks of the Police Department from a street cop in Times Square and narcotics investigator, Mr. Giuliani promoted him to correction commissioner, where he curbed sick time abuse by guards and reduced violence by inmates.
Mr. Kerik’s appointment as police commissioner in August 2000 was not well received, in part because of his rapid promotions despite his lack of a college degree, which uniformed police officers ordinarily needed for promotion to captain and above.
His highest rank before becoming commissioner was detective third grade. He later went on to earn a degree in 2002.
During his tenure as police commissioner, for 16 months through 2001 when Mr. Giuliani’s mayoral term ended, crime continued the decline that was accomplished most by two of his predecessors, Raymond W. Kelly and William J. Bratton.
Morale among officers improved. So did relations between the department and Black and Hispanic New Yorkers who had been alienated by incidents of police abuse.
But Mr. Kerik was accused of heavy-handed management and abuse of power as commissioner until Dec. 31, 2001 when Mr. Giuliani left office …
