Donald Francis Cawley (September 14, 1929 – September 21, 1990) was an American law enforcement officer who served as
New York City Police Commissioner from May to December 1973.
Early life
Cawley was born on September 14, 1929, in
Woodside, Queens. He studied engineering at
Polytechnic Institute in Brooklyn but dropped out due to a lack of money.
Career
Early career
In 1951 he joined the
New York City Police Department
The City of New York Police Department, also referred to as New York City Police Department (NYPD), is the primary law enforcement agency within New York City. Established on May 23, 1845, the NYPD is the largest, and one of the oldest, munic ...
. He was promoted to sergeant in 1959.
In 1961 he began working in the First Deputy Commissioner's office, where he specialized in investigating corruption. He remained in the First Deputy Commissioner's office where he climbed to the rank of deputy inspector. In 1971 he was appointed as an inspector in charge of the Sixth Division, which consisted of most of
Harlem
Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater ...
. In 1972, commissioner
Patrick V. Murphy passed over 72 more senior officers to name Cawley chief of patrol.
Commissioner
On April 12, 1973, it was announced that Cawley would succeed Murphy as police commissioner. At 43 years old he was the youngest commissioner in the department's history. He was sworn in on May 14, 1973.
As commissioner, Cawley overhauled the department's hiring practices by recruiting minorities, eliminating height requirements for officers, removing culturally biased questions from the Civil Service examination, and raising the age limit for new officers from 29 to 35.
Cawley also enacted a policy that would see veteran officers found guilty of accepting minority gratuities punished with a fine instead of automatic dismissal and loss of pension. In an effort to combat street crime he assigned 1,000 detectives to patrol duty. After the
shooting of Clifford Glover, Cawley created a special panel to screen out officers with a history of violent tendencies so they could face disciplinary action, receive additional training, or be reassigned to less stressful positions. He also instituted a name tag policy despite fierce opposition from the
Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York. Cawley was not retained by Mayor
Abraham Beame and left office on December 31, 1973.
Later life
In April 1974, Cawley was named
Chemical Bank
Chemical Bank, headquartered in New York City, was the principal operating subsidiary of Chemical Banking Corporation, a bank holding company. In 1996, it acquired Chase Bank, adopted the Chase name, and became the largest bank in the United Stat ...
's vice president in charge of security, purchasing, and communication services. In 1982 he became the vice president for administration of the
New York Clearing House Association.
Cawley died of cancer on September 21, 1990, at his home
Massapequa, New York. He was 61 years old.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cawley, Donald
1929 births
1990 deaths
New York City police commissioners
People from Massapequa, New York
People from Woodside, Queens