By Michael Cooper, The New York Times
ALBANY, N.Y. -- Donald J. Trump is one. So are Richard A. Grasso, the former head of the New York Stock Exchange, and enough big-shot real estate people to form a powerful trade group. The late vibraphonist Lionel Hampton was one too.
Their common thread? They were all made police commissioners, honoris causa.
It is a little-known fact that some police buffs who grow up to be successful businessmen, prodigious campaign donors, friends of politicians or a combination of all three can be dubbed honorary police officials and given unpaid sinecures that let them carry around fake badges and, sometimes, play dress-up.
Of course, even an honorary policeman’s lot is not always a happy one. David S. Mack - a big contributor to Gov. George E. Pataki whose brother Earle, a developer, flew Mr. Pataki and his wife to St. Barts on a private jet last year - drew scrutiny on Tuesday when The New York Post reported that as an honorary deputy superintendent of the state troopers since 1995, he often appears at official functions in full dress uniform.
Lt. Glenn Miner, a spokesman for the state police, said that Mr. Mack, whom Mr. Pataki made a commissioner at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, is the only honorary member of the force. “He has been a strong supporter of the men and women of the state police for many years,” Lieutenant Miner said, adding that Mr. Mack had advised the state police on management and helped them find sites for new facilities. “He’s allowed to use the uniform from time to time when attending official events.”
New York City has been much more generous in doling out honorary police commissionerships and deputy commissionerships, particularly when Rudolph W. Giuliani was mayor, and more than two dozen titles were handed out, mostly to the well heeled and the well connected.
Mr. Trump, who was made an honorary police commissioner when Howard Safir was the real commissioner, said he had not made any honorary arrests. “All I do is build buildings and be the star of the No. 1 television show,” Honorary Police Commissioner Trump said. “I haven’t had a chance to use my commissionership yet.”
And does he ever don a uniform? “No, not I’m not into that,” he said.
But the practice of giving out honorary badges - powerful symbols of authority that could conceivably be used to, say, try to wriggle out of speeding tickets or intimidate other civilians - troubles even some of those who carry them.
Pam Delaney, the president of the Police Foundation, a charity that raises money for the New York Police Department, said that she treasured her honorary badge, which she called a great honor. But she added: “Frankly, I would prefer that no one has them, including myself, because of the possibility of their being used inappropriately.”
The honorary titles can play havoc with protocol. Howard Koeppel - a friend of Mr. Giuliani’s who was made an honorary police and fire commissioner, and whom Mr. Giuliani later turned to for lodging when his marriage fell apart and he had to leave Gracie Mansion - found the limits of his titles at a police officer’s funeral in 1996.
In an incident that lives on in department memory, Mr. Koeppel made the mistake of trying to sit in the front pew, a spot reserved for the mayor and real police brass. He got what witnesses described as an expletive-filled tongue-lashing from Louis R. Anemone, who was then the hard-charging chief of department.
And sometimes, the badge can be too great a temptation. Ives Nathan, who had an honorary police badge as a trustee of the village of Mamaroneck, used it to pull over a convertible that cut him off during the summer of 2001. The teenage driver turned out to be the niece of a former mayor, though, and after the ensuing controversy Mr. Nathan wound up resigning from the village board.
“Upon reflection, it was probably the wrong thing to do,” he said on Tuesday. He added, “The bottom line is that badges don’t belong in the hands of politicians.”