Ex-NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly gets line-of-duty disability pension typically granted for Sept.11 illnesses

Rocco Parascandola and John Annese, New York Daily News
·2 min read
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NEW YORK — Former NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly has been granted a line-of-duty disability pension typically given cops suffering Sept. 11-related illnesses, the New York Daily News has learned.

The Police Pension Fund voted to approve the 80-year-old former top cop’s three-quarters disability pension Wednesday, the head of the Captain’s Endowment Association confirmed. The captain’s union represented Kelly in his pension case.

Under usual city pension rules, Kelly would receive 75% of the more than $200,000 salary he earned as commissioner, or about $150,000 per year. The pension is largely tax free.

“Raymond Kelly fit the criteria under state law, and the only way post-retirement would have to be 9/11-related,” said union President Chris Monahan. He wouldn’t comment further on the reason for Kelly’s disability pension.

Kelly wasn’t a member of the NYPD when the planes hit on Sept. 11. Former Mayor Michael Bloomberg named him commissioner starting Jan. 1, 2002.

Under state law, police and other city employees can claim a Sept. 11 disability if they worked at ground zero during the first 48 hours after the terrorist attacks, or for an accumulated 40 hours at the World Trade Center site between Sept. 11, 2001, and Sept. 12, 2002. Kelly was a regular presence at ground zero.

The decision to grant line-of-duty disability status is by a majority vote of the 12-member police pension fund board of trustees, which includes the mayor, the comptroller, the current police commissioner, the city finance commissioner and representatives of the city’s police unions.

Kelly joined the NYPD in 1960, and first served as police commissioner from 1992 to 1994, during the last part of Mayor David Dinkins’ term.

When Bloomberg put Kelly back in the job in 2002, Kelly gave up a police pension he was then receiving, the Daily News reported at the time.

Kelly was commissioner for Bloomberg’s entire mayorality. After he left office on Dec. 31, 2013, he joined an investigation firm and published a memoir.

Kelly did not respond to a message seeking comment, and Mayor Eric Adams’ office did not return a message seeking comment.

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