‘Top Cop’ John Timoney dead at 68

John Timoney

By Ray O’Hanlon

If the epitome of the Irish American cop was called up by central casting, John Timoney would have been ready to fill the role.

And that’s how many will remember the Dublin-born Timoney, who died today after a long battle with lung cancer.

Timoney was 68 and is survived by his wife Noreen and two children.

Timoney - who was the top honoree in the Irish Echo’s Law & Order Awards in 2010 - blazed a trail through the annals of American law enforcement in a life that began in the part of Dublin known as The Liberties.

Sign up to The Irish Echo Newsletter

Sign up today to get daily, up-to-date news and views from Irish America.

Gentrified these times, the streets of Timoney’s boyhood were anything but.

This, as much as anything, was a reason why Timoney was always a street cop, a beat cop, no matter how high in the ranks he rose in cities where he plied his most challenging trade, New York, Philadelphia, Miami.

He was also a “Top Cop,” this being partly the title of his 2010 autobiography, “From Beat Cop to Top Cop,” an account of his life, but also his experiences in, and philosophy for, policing in urban America that began in 1969 with his first precinct posting in the Bronx.

Timoney died in Miami where had had maintained a home since his departure from the city’s department in 2010, this against a backdrop of political upheaval in the city that ensnared the man who had once been the youngest four star Chief of Department in the NYPD.

Timoney had arrived in New York in the summer of 1961, with his family and on board a ship.

He once told this writer that he would never forget the day, and this had nothing to do with his never to be forgotten first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty.

Rather, it was the fact that he was trussed up in a wool suit on a scorching August day.

In his career, Timoney would become well used to heat – from politicians, departmental brass, and literally in the case of his stint in Miami, and subsequently in Bahrain where he was employed by the government to impart a more judicious American system of policing to local law enforcement.

The Miami Herald reported that last month Timoney told a news outlet in Philadelphia – where he had also been chief of police - that his father had died of lung cancer when he was 54.

Added the report: That same day, a friend who saw Timoney told the Miami Herald the former police chief seemed to be improving.

“He seemed to be improving,” said former Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who was at his bedside when the former chief passed away.

“We became very close. He was like a brother. Hiring him was probably the best decision I made in eight years.”

Added the Herald report: “In an interview last month, former Miami Police Maj. Delrish Moss, who rose through Miami’s police ranks and recently left for the top spot in Ferguson, Missouri, said he owes much of his career advancement to Timoney.

“He was one of the best police chiefs we’ve ever had. He took the Miami Police Department leaps and bounds forward,” Moss said.

“I probably owe the fact that I’m police chief in Ferguson to some of the things he saw in me that elevated my career.”

Timoney’s appointment as police chief in Miami was announced in the waning days of 2002. His elevation to the city’s top policing job was low key and in stark contrast to the high-profile competition to lead the police force in Los Angeles which had just played out at the time.

Timoney was one of three finalists in a heavily publicized search for a chief in Los Angeles.

That job eventually went to William Bratton, who is poised to depart the commissioner’s job in New York, making way for Chief James O’Neill.

Despite the rigors of his treatment, Timoney told the Echo by email that he was optimistic for the department under O’Neill’s tutelage.

“Don't know him but heard he is a very good guy,” Timoney said in his email.

The email was sent on August 2.

Timoney had served as a number two to Bratton when Bratton served his first turn as commissioner in New York in the 1990s.

At the time of his appointment to the Miami job, Timoney said that the post would be a big challenge.

“It’s tough but doable,” he said at the time.

He was right on that count.

Timoney, who began the Miami job in January, ’03, inherited a force that was going through turbulent times.

“Widely respected for his administrative skills, he (Timoney) inherits a department mired in controversy,” the New York Times reported in a story on Timoney’s elevation to the Miami post.

Much of the turmoil centered on allegations of police brutality and insensitivity to minorities.

Timoney, never one to shelter behind a desk, was a prominent and at times controversial Miami chief, but he is generally credited with reducing crime rates in the city and bringing order to the department during his seven years.

Timoney had arrived in Miami after leading the Philadelphia department for three years beginning in 1998.

He had departed New York as a result of differences between himself and then Mayor Rudolph Giuliani.

Timoney was seen as being close to Bill Bratton, who was also at increasing odds with Mayor Giuliani at the time.

"With John Timoney's passing, police officers everywhere have lost a true friend and defender,” said Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch in a statement.

“John helped create and advance the ideals of modern, professional law enforcement.

“But he remained a cop, first and foremost, and he led from the front, often standing shoulder-to-shoulder with his police officers as they took police action on the street.”

 

Donate