New York City Police Commissioner Resigns After His Phone Was Seized In Federal Probe

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigned Thursday, one week after it emerged that his phone was seized as part of a federal investigation that touched several members of Mayor Eric Adams’ inner circle.

Caban, who had been in charge of the nation’s largest police department for about 15 months, said he made the decision to resign after the “news around recent developments” had “created a distraction for our department,” according to an email to the police department obtained by The Associated Press.

“I am unwilling to let my attention be on anything other than our important work, or the safety of the men and women of the NYPD,” he added.

At a news conference Thursday, Adams praised Caban for “making our city safer” and said he had named Tom Donlon, a retired FBI official, as the interim police commissioner. Donlon previously served as the chief of the FBI’s National Threat Center and once led the Office of Homeland Security in New York, before starting his own security firm in 2020.

Donlon said in a statement he was “honored and humbled” to head “the greatest law enforcement agency in the world,” and that his priorities would include removing illegal guns from the community.

Caban’s resignation marks the first high-level departure from the Adams administration since federal investigators seized phones Wednesday from several members of the mayor’s inner circle, including two deputy mayors, the schools chancellor, and one of Adams’ top advisers.

The subject of the investigation, which is being led by U.S. Attorney’s office in Manhattan, remains unclear, as does whether federal authorities were seeking information linked to one investigation or several.

Caban’s attorneys, Russell Capone and