As ouster looms for NYPD watchdog head, Mayor Adams offered her to stay on with demotion: sources

Mayor Adams told the chairwoman of the city’s police oversight board this week she can stay on the panel as long as she accepts a demotion — an offer that came after his top public safety deputy requested her resignation over policy disagreements — according to two sources familiar with the matter.

Adams made the unusual suggestion to Arva Rice, who has served as the interim chairwoman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board since 2022, after Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks  informed her earlier this month that the mayor wanted her to step down over her criticism of the NYPD’s handling of a high-profile police shooting, as first reported by The New York Times.

Adams contacted Rice this week and told her she could stay on the CCRB as a regular member as long as she vacated the chair post, the two sources told the Daily News, speaking on condition of anonymity.

It’s unclear how Rice responded to Adams’ proposal. But she is unlikely to accept a demotion, the sources said.

Neither Rice nor Adams’ office returned requests for comment. A CCRB spokeswoman said Rice was still interim chair as of Thursday, and it’s unclear when she might leave.

The Times reported Rice is expected to resign in the coming weeks.

Asked about the push to boot Rice, Adams on Thursday morning confirmed he’d told her she could stay on the board, though he didn’t mention the demotion caveat.

“I communicated directly to Mrs. Rice and told her she does not have to leave the CCRB,” Adams, a retired NYPD captain who made a name for himself as an advocate against police misconduct, told PIX11.

Pressed on whether Rice’s potential exit is performance-related, Adams noted she was first appointed chair by ex-Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“Shouldn’t I make a determination who’s in a leadership position?” said Adams, who re-appointed Rice to the role on an interim basis in February 2022. “That is how this is done.”

As first reported by The News on Wednesday, Banks, a former NYPD chief who’s one of the most powerful members of the Adams administration, started pushing behind the scenes for Rice’s ouster as early as June 2023.

Among other moves, sources said Banks last summer privately introduced other CCRB members to Khaair Morrison, a lawyer he told them would soon be appointed as Rice’s replacement. Morrison never ended up being named for the spot.

The CCRB is tasked with investigating and administratively prosecuting misconduct by NYPD officers.

Sources say Rice ruffled feathers with Adams and Banks after she blasted NYPD leadership this month for their handling of the case of Kawaski Trawick, a Black 32-year-old fatally shot in April 2019 inside his Bronx apartment by Brendan Thompson, a white officer.

Police Commissioner Edward Caban announced on April 12 that he wouldn’t discipline Thompson or his partner Herbert Davis over Trawick’s death, in part because he said CCRB missed a deadline for filing disciplinary charges. In response, Rice excoriated NYPD brass for not releasing key evidence in the case until after the deadline.

“Had NYPD conducted a legitimate investigation and held their officers accountable, Kawaski’s family could have avoided the last five years of fighting for justice,” she said at a board meeting last week.

In addition to the Trawick controversy, Rice has recently advocated publicly for increasing the CCRB budget amid a surge in misconduct complaints against cops. The budget advocacy has rubbed senior Adams administration officials the wrong way, too, sources said.

The Rice clash comes amid a flurry of turnover in the Adams administration.

News broke earlier this month that resignations are being tendered by Corporation Counsel Sylvia Hinds-Radix and Citywide Administrative Services Commissioner Dawn Pinnock, who are both, like Rice, Black women.

Hinds-Radix’s exit comes as The News and other outlets have reported she’s had disagreements with top City Hall officials about legal issues engulfing Adams and his administration.

Adams is looking to replace Hinds-Radix with Randy Mastro, an ex-federal prosecutor who has a lengthy record of fighting for conservative legal causes.

In his PIX11 appearance, Adams played down the recent staff shuffles.

“We’re over two years into the administration, I’ve been shifting people around, I’ve been making changes,” he said. “That is something that I have to do based on my powers.”