NYPD Chief of Patrol Philip Rivera’s connections to Puerto Rico are evident in his 13th floor office at One Police Plaza in Lower Manhattan.
A giant red, white and blue Puerto Rican flag stands in one corner and a smaller one flies on his desk.
A flourescent wall-hanging decorated with the flag and palm trees hangs above a door and other keepsakes dot the furniture.
“I had detectives who were Puerto Rican, lieutenants, sergeants,” the 52-year-old said of his early years in the department where he’s worked for 31 years.
“There really weren’t that many in the executive level, though,” the 52-year-old, father-of-four recalled. “So that’s something that has changed quite considerably.”
The three-star chief, who reports to Chief of Department Michael LiPetri and Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, highlighted his accomplishments to The Post on Friday, two days ahead of the city’s Puerto Rican Day Parade.
Rivera’s dad, Lieutenant Andrew Rivera, was also in the NYPD and so were both of his brothers, he said, calling the NYPD a “family business.”
“There was a lot of Hispanic representation” when he was coming up in the department, he said.
“In fact, my father and his being a member of the Hispanic Society had something to do with that.”
The NYPD is now 36% Hispanic with roughly 15,000 officers, a large increase since his father joined in the early 1960s. It’s not clear how many of them are from Puerto Rico.
Chief of Patrol Estevello became the first Puerto Rican in the history of the NYPD to reach the three-star rank of Chief of Patrol in 2002, Rivera pointed out.
“But to be able to follow in his footsteps like that, you know, it’s a tremendous honor, and obviously it instills a lot of pride in me that I was able to attain the same rank as he did.”
Rivera, whose grandparents were born on the island, plans to be at the parade celebrating his roots even if that means staying up all night after supervising cops patrolling New York Knicks watch parties, he said.
“It’s a celebration of our accomplishments, of Puerto Rico’s accomplishments,” he said. “There’s a lot to be proud of. So it acknowledges the role of Puerto Ricans in every facet of our community, whether it be business or education, and it’s all on display on Fifth Avenue.”
Rivera, who is planning to join his parents at the event, said his mom has been his biggest cheerleader.
“Oh, forget it,” he said of the 91-year-old firecracker. “She’s been a fixture at every promotion up front with her Puerto Rican flag. Not only is it like a display of who we are, but it’s also the sacrifices of everybody who came before us that I’m representing here.”
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