NY State Police superintendent Kevin Bruen to resign amid investigation. What to know

New York State Police Superintendent Kevin Bruen put in his resignation abruptly Friday, following a news report that indicated he was under state investigation for potential workplace improprieties.

Gov. Kathy Hochul disclosed the news in a terse statement, announcing that "today I accepted the resignation of State Police Superintendent Kevin Bruen. I thank him for his years of public service."

Bruen's resignation is effective Oct. 19.

Hochul added that Steven Nigrelli, the agency's second-in-command, will serve as acting superintendent until a new leader is chosen.

Earlier this week, Hochul confirmed to the Albany Times Union that her office was looking into allegations about Bruen that had surfaced on the internet. "This is an individual I inherited," she told the outlet.

The investigation concerns whether Bruen, 59, protected his agency's human resources director at the time from internal complaints, the Times Union reported.

Appointed by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo last year, Bruen was closely involved with the state's efforts to combat gun violence.

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He supported Hochul's efforts in the wake of a May mass shooting in a Buffalo supermarket to expand the use of the state's red flag laws, which allow law enforcement, school officials and others to request that potentially dangerous individuals be prohibited from possessing or purchasing firearms. State police are now required to file a red flag law request to restrict access to firearms for someone they believe is a threat to themselves or others.

Bruen also appeared alongside Hochul at a press conference in August in order to tout the state's recoveries of so-called ghost guns, or self-made firearms.

Bruen said that there has been an “exponential growth” in ghost gun recoveries over the last few years.

“This concept of personally manufactured firearms, it just didn’t exist in New York five years ago,” Bruen said at the press conference. “With the ability to take these parts and relatively easily assemble them, this became a source of guns. And it’s become a source and a huge concern for me.”

Bruen's name was also lent to the eponymous U.S. Supreme Court decision in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, which for the first time declared a Second Amendment right to carry firearms for self-defense in public.

This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: NY State Police superintendent Kevin Bruen to resign. What to know