NEW YORK (1010 WINS/WCBS 880) -- Mayor Eric Adams named Bronx native Edward Caban as the new NYPD commissioner on Monday.
Caban is the first Hispanic person to be appointed to the role in the history of New York. He was the acting police commissioner.
Monday's announcement was made at the 40th Precinct stationhouse, the South Bronx precinct where Caban started his career more than 30 years ago. "Eddie! Eddie! Eddie!" NYPD members chanted as he took to the lectern with the mayor.
"This is going to be probably one of the most significant and emotional moments for me of bringing forward a person that is representative of this blue-collar city," Adams said. "And I think about Eddie's mother and his dad, who was a transit cop when I was a transit cop leading the Hispanic Society, fighting for representation, fighting for equality."
The mayor called Caban the "the right person for right now."
"My journey with the NYPD began over 32 years ago," Caban said at Monday's announcement, "a young Puerto Rican kid from Parkchester standing on a foot post in the South Bronx, just like thousands who came before me and thousands who have come after me."
"Given how many great leaders of Hispanic descent have come before me in the NYPD, to be the first Hispanic police commissioner is an honor of the highest measure," Caban said.
His promotion to 46th NYPD commissioner comes just weeks after former NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell's surprise resignation in June. Sewell made history as the NYPD's first female commissioner.
Caban, 55, had served second in command to Sewell in the role of first deputy commissioner.
On Monday, Tania Kinsella was named first deputy commissioner of the department. She is the first woman of color to serve in the role in NYPD history. She had been the deputy chief at the Patrol Services Bureau since December, part of a 20-year career at the NYPD.
Former NYPD Chief of Detectives Robert Boyce said Caban will go into the job with a good reputation among the rank and file.
"The cops already like him," Boyce said. "He can walk amongst the men and women. That's big. He's well respected. I've never heard a bad word about him, so he's got that already."
Caban, who is married with two kids, comes from a Puerto Rican family with deep ties to the NYPD. His father, Juan Caban, was an NYC Transit detective and president of the Transit Police Hispanic Society. Caban also has three brothers who joined the NYPD.
Caban began his career with the department in 1991 on patrol in the South Bronx. He worked his way to sergeant in less than three years and was promoted to lieutenant in 1999. He continued to climb up through the ranks over the years.
“It’s not lost on me the fact that I made my position on the backs of so many before me,” he told 1010 WINS last year for Hispanic Heritage Month.
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