During his nearly 32 years in the New York City Police Department,
During his nearly 32 years in the New York City Police Department, Chief Thomas Chan has made an impact. Now, as the the head of the NYPD’s Community Affairs Bureau, it’s his duty to make everyday New Yorkers feel good about the NYPD.
“I wanted to be a police officer and I wanted to make a difference out there, and I feel that I have,” he said. “I’ve tried to make my contribution in any rank that I’ve worked in.”
Chan is the highest-ranking Asian American in the police department. Just last month, he was promoted to three stars and tapped to oversee community affairs.
His mother, though, wasn’t always excited about him joining the men and women in blue.
“The police department was actually giving prep test, prep information and packages, and she conveniently kind of disposed of the package back then, and I still took the test and I passed,” Chan said. “I think like a lot of parents, she wasn’t keen on the idea of becoming a police officer, and that’s happened to a lot of Asian officers. But I think gradually, she liked the idea.”
Chan was born in New York and grew up in the Smith Houses, which are actually across from police headquarters. He said he snuck on the police plaza construction site while it was built.
“My friends and I, we actually played on the foundation of police headquarters, and we were being chased out by the security guard since we didn’t belong in the area,” he said. “It was fun. We had a great time here.”
Throughout the the years, Chan has worked across the city. He said he doesn’t look at himself as a role model, but clearly, plenty of other officers are looking to follow in his footsteps.
“I think that when I started in 1982, there was a handful, maybe 20 to 30 officers in the police department of Asian decent,” he said. “Now, we are up to 3,000 officers. Indian, Pakistani, from all parts of the Filipino, Korean, Japanese. There’s a list of probably 30 different countries that we have officers from.”
Chan is proud of his Chinese background and knows it is a talking point for many people. But he’s just as proud of being a member of the family in blue.
“When somebody needed help, they didn’t care if it was a Hispanic, an African-American, an Asian officer or purple officer,” he said. “If you needed an officer to help you, you are being assaulted, anybody who came in in uniform, who assisted you, that would be what you’re looking for.”
Chan is now looking to improve community relations, especially over stop-and-frisk, which is currently being challenged in federal court.
“If we have stopped him for some reason and afterwards, he’s not the person we’re looking for, I’ve apologized to people. I say, ‘On behalf of the police department, I apologize for stopping you,'” Chan said. “Back in the old days in Chinatown, when we had ghost shadows, flying dragons, gang members, I wouldn’t be apologetic.”
Chief Chan is also trying to convince young people to stay away from committing crimes.