NYPD Deputy Chief Kim Royster is making history.
The commanding officer of the NYPD’s Public Information Office will be promoted to chief by the end of the month, making her the highest-ranking black woman in uniform in the department’s history.
The promotion comes with a transfer to the NYPD Personnel Division, where she will be responsible for streamlining recruitment efforts for the police academy, a high-ranking source with knowledge of the move said Friday.
“She will oversee recruitment — how we go about getting the people, how we inform them of the process and how we get them through recruitment,” the source said.
Royster declined to comment about the promotion, but said she was looking forward to her new assignment.
“This is a great opportunity to be part of Commissioner (Bill) Bratton’s plan to prepare our department to be the leaders of policing in the 21st century,” Royster (photo) said.
The 30-year veteran and mother of two started her career with the NYPD in 1985 as a police administrative aide and has been credited with being the driving force in the NYPD’s gun buyback program, which is responsible for taking more than 8,000 weapons off the streets.
The move comes in the wake of Bratton promising to diversify the force, though a police source said Royster wasn’t given her new assignment because of her race.
“She was in Internal Affairs, she was a precinct executive, she worked in the Office of Management Analysis and Planning,” the source said. “She has a macro view of the department.”
