Ex-NYPD commissioner’s rookie son promoted to detective

Former NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea’s rookie son landed a promotion after just 18 months as a cop — in a surprise move that has some in the department crying foul.

Richard Shea, 23, is getting moved from patrolman to a detective unit in NYPD’s 23rd precinct in East Harlem effective Monday, according to an internal NYPD memo obtained by The Post.

Shea joined the department in November 2020 and completed his six months at the police academy last May, according to his NYPD officer profile.

Since he began working his beat as a patrolman he’s racked up 32 arrests. He’s also received no awards and no additional training.

The fast-tracked promotion of a rookie fresh out of the police academy to an investigative unit is virtually unheard of, sources said.

“Nobody gets it that fast unless there’s an exceptional circumstance,” a police source told The Post. “You get into a shootout and your partner gets killed and you kill the bad guy. Then they’d probably bump you to detective. But he’s just out of the academy. What could he possibly know? It’s bullsh–t. You can’t get it in a year and a half.”

Another police source blasted the promotion as “nepotism.”

“So to get into an investigative track unit with that little time only happens two ways without question: You either know somebody that hooked you in, or you get into some high-profile shooting or do something newsworthy and did a great job. No one has issues with the latter.

“I bet you there are guys in the 23 that I’ve been waiting years to get into the squad,” the sourced went on. “Not to mention there’s no way this kid knows enough about patrol to even understand how to do detective work.”

The Post has reached out to the NYPD for comment.

John Macari Jr., a former NYPD lieutenant and a trustee for the-National Coalition of Front Line Workers, decried the move as a clear case of nepotism in a social media post, and said it represents “a failure in leadership.”

“I’m not knocking the Kid. I hope he has a safe & successful career but his father & the leadership of this department failed him & the men & women of the NYPD. This lowers morale for all. I’m not saying not to hook your kid up, I’m saying just make it look good,” Macari tweeted.

Dermot Shea was named NYPD Commissioner by former Mayor Bill de Blasio in 2019 to replace outgoing top cop James O’Neill. Shea, like his predecessor, was considered a protégé of Bill Bratton.

Shea, 53, retired from the post in December 2021 after incoming Mayor Eric Adams named Keechant Sewell as new commissioner.

James Shea, the commissioner’s older brother by seven years, now serves as Jersey City’s public safety director after more than 20 years in the NYPD.