Detective has ‘more power than commish’
The person “literally running” the NYPD is a brash Brooklyn cop who hams it up in the department’s true-crime YouTube show, pals around with top chiefs and has a direct line to Mayor Adams.
For nearly six months, when bosses wanted to make a promotion or transfer, they’d call Detective First Grade Kaz Daughtry — not outgoing Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
“He calls and everybody jumps,” one police source said. “He’s literally running the department.”
Daughtry is a 17-year veteran who works in the office of Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey.
He is the highest rank of detective and has a leading role in the department’s YouTube series, “True Blue: NYPD’s Finest” — usually right next to Maddrey or Chief of Patrol John Chell. “He’s a cowboy,” the source said. Sewell, a popular commissioner with the rank and file, announced her resignation in a letter to the department’s 33,000 officers on Monday. She didn’t give a reason.
The announcement came a day after The Post reported that police sources said Adams, Maddrey and Deputy Mayor Philip Banks were calling the shots at the NYPD. Adams, a former cop, has been close to Banks and Maddrey for years.
Daughtry, who made $195,000 last year, has been working in
Maddrey’s office at One Police Plaza since December.
A second source said the power Maddrey has given Daughtry elevated him above the commissioner.
“In the past, the people below the police commissioner didn’t have more juice than the police commissioner,” the source said. “Everyone went to the police commissioner, who went to the mayor.”
Daugherty previously worked under Maddrey at Patrol Borough Brooklyn North and the 73rd and 75th precincts in Brownsville and East New York, records show.
A third source said the authority has gone to Daughtry’s head.
“He’s just a knucklehead detective and Maddrey’s empowered him,” the source said. “He calls around as if he’s a three-star chief. “He tells chiefs what to do.” Daughtry has a checkered past as a cop. He pleaded guilty to making misleading and inaccurate statements in a use-of-force case and lost 20 vacation days in 2021. The use-of-force allegations were found to be unsubstantiated.
He’s had substantiated complaints for pointing a gun at someone, abuse of authority and threat of force, records show.
An NYPD spokesman said that Daughtry “is one of the detectives designated as a NYPD City Hall Liaison. This team was created to better facilitate direct and immediate communication between City Hall and the NYPD.”