Lisa White, a retired 911 dispatcher and longtime friend of New York City Mayor Eric Adams has reportedly been awarded one of the highest-paid roles in his administration. White was appointed as deputy commissioner for employee relations last May, a gig that compensates her $241,000 a year.
Prior to her appointment she was reportedly living off a $30,000 a year pension.
White’s official city bio says her past work experience includes a position as an “Interim Supervisor” with the NYPD’s 911 system, a role that compensated her $53,000 a year at the time of her retirement in December 2019.
White, who according to the NY Post rented a room to Adams for four years at her Brooklyn address, is now in charge of overseeing the mental health and morale of the NYPDs 35,000 uniformed members, drawing a salary that is close to five times that of her previous employment.
Her bio refers to her as a “former police communications technician” who “regularly reviews administrative processes and internal policies to determine and provide effective recommendations that build on community-police relations.”
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This is but the latest questionable appointment made by the Adam’s administration.
In January of this year, Adams attempted to appoint his brother, Bernard Adams, to an over $240,000-a-year role as the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of governmental affairs before he backed out of the move following pressure from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board.
Another questionable appointment was that of Timothy Pearson, a close friend of Adams who Adams appointed to be one of his top public safety advisors while Pearson was also working for the city’s economic Development Corporation and in the private sector for Resorts World Casino.
White quietly replaced Robert Ganley, another Adams appointee, after he was dismissed by Commissioner Keechant Sewell.
Ganley was forced to retire after the NY Post revealed that he had used a taxpayer-funded NYPD helicopter to transport himself back and forth to Philadelphia for a fancy gala.
White is still earning her roughly $30,000 pension on top of her deputy commissioner salary of more than $241,000, the NY Post reported.
She had worked as a 911 dispatcher since 1995 and her and Adams met and established their friendship through the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, which Adams co-founded and White helped represent, according to The City who first broke the story.
According to The City, White rented a room to Adams on McKeever Place in 2013 while he was running for Brooklyn Borough president, where he lived until 2017.
White also worked on Adam’s mayoral campaign in 2020 as the campaign’s spokeswoman.
When asked about the questionable appointment Adams recently told reporters that the Police Department “handles those questions.”
“The NYPD handles the personnel, but all of my agencies, we say you have gotta get the best people for the job, and we’ve done that, we’ve been successful,’’ Adam’s said, according to the NY Post.
In a statement to the NY post on Tuesday an NYPD representative said that “Deputy Commissioner Lisa White filed for service retirement from the NYPD Communications Section in 2019, after a 29-year-career with the agency.”
“She is currently undertaking her duties as Deputy Commissioner of Employee Relations, leading the Department’s efforts to improve the health, well-being, and morale of all members of service; support the families of fallen officers and members who are seriously injured and/or ill; and liaison to the Department’s 40 fraternal, religious, and ethnic organizations,” the statement read.
