After Commissioner’s Abrupt Exit, the N.Y.P.D. Struggles to Right Itself

The new top police officer will take over an agency that Mayor Eric Adams has seeded with loyalists, who have created an atmosphere of intrigue and aggression.

The resignation of Commissioner Edward A. Caban on Thursday plunged the New York Police Department into uncertainty and turmoil, as he became the second top leader to leave in the span of 18 months.

Mayor Eric Adams, himself a former police captain, now must find a law enforcer to preside over a department that he has seeded at its highest levels with friends who have been ensnared in disciplinary matters and ethical questions.

The new police commissioner would be joining an administration that has been rocked by at least four federal criminal investigations, including one that forced the resignation of Mr. Caban. And the new leader’s time could be short: Mr. Adams is facing what could be a difficult re-election campaign next year.

On Thursday, Mr. Adams named Thomas Donlon, a Bronx native and former director of the New York State homeland security office, as interim head of the department. It was unclear how long his tenure would last, but many city leaders and former police officers welcomed the change.

They said his arrival might end an era of parochialism within the nation’s largest police department, which has been dominated by Brooklyn, the borough where Mr. Adams was a police captain, and where many of the top commanders he elevated also worked.