De Blasio NYPD security chief Howard Redmond surrenders at Manhattan DA’s office to face charges in obstruction probe

Howard Redmond, who as an NYPD inspector oversaw Bill de Blasio and his family’s around-the-clock security the whole time the former New York City mayor was in office, surrendered Wednesday to face criminal charges stemming from his work for City Hall.

Redmond, whose 30-year career at the NYPD recently culminated in his firing, is expected to be arraigned on obstruction charges brought by Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s office at 2:15 p.m.

The charges come more than two years after the city Department of Investigation referred Redmond to the DA for potential prosecution after its probe into de Blasio’s detail uncovered widespread misuse.

The DA’s office and Redmond’s lawyer declined to comment on the sealed charges pending his court appearance.

Redmond served as head of de Blasio’s detail from when the former mayor took office in 2014, overseeing two NYPD units responsible for the mayor and first lady’s 24-hour security seven days a week.

The city Department of Investigation referred him to the DA for prosecution in late 2021 following an investigation into de Blasio’s misuse of his detail.

A scathing report by the watchdog agency found de Blasio’s bodyguards operated like glorified chauffeurs, flying in the face of city ethics laws barring public servants from using city resources for personal benefit.

De Blasio’s kids enjoyed taxpayer-funded rides around the city and moving assistance when son Dante went to Yale and daughter Chiara moved from Brooklyn into Gracie Mansion. The former mayor also used his detail to ferry his brother from the airport when he visited from out of town.

Most egregiously, de Blasio used almost $320,000 of New Yorkers’ taxes to fund his failed presidential bid in 2019, including giving lifts to campaign staffers who took leave from their jobs at the mayor’s office, the DOI found in 2021.

During the city probe, Redmond refused to provide investigators his City Hall-issued phone, “deliberately” sought to destroy his separate NYPD one and deleted everything off of both when he was ultimately forced to hand them over, the DOI report said.

He only turned over the City Hall phone after ignoring multiple orders to do so when then-DOI Commissioner Margaret Garnett personally reached out to NYPD leadership.

Describing Redmond as showing “a lack of candor” in interviews with DOI investigators, the report said he gave non-credible answers and played dumb when asked about matters that fell under his direct supervision.

The former mayor — who described his eight-year security chief as a “devoted public servant” in 2021 — has remained silent amid the probe that’s heated up in recent weeks. He and his lawyers ignored requests for comment amid news of the pending charges.

De Blasio is fighting a $475,000 fine issued by the city Conflicts of Interest Board in May, the largest of its kind, that intends to reimburse taxpayers for his presidential pipe dream. It also includes $155,000 in penalties.

Redmond made $230,000 last year as an NYPD inspector in the city’s Office of Emergency Management. The department had scrubbed him from the NYPD personnel database by Tuesday.