Louis Molina, head of the city correction department, will become the assistant deputy mayor for public safety, Mayor Eric Adams announced Tuesday.
“Over the last 22 months, Lou has demonstrated exceptional leadership and dedication as the commissioner of the Department of Correction, helping to reverse decades of mismanagement and neglect. Lou has brought this organization back from the brink of collapse,” Adams wrote in a statement.
He will report to Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Philip Banks.
“In this new and expanded role, he will not only help lead the continued progress being made at the Department of Correction but will help us further the gains being made across our city’s entire public safety apparatus to ensure that New York remains the safest big city in the nation,” Banks wrote in a statement.
Molina was tapped to become the commissioner of the city’s Department of Correction in December 2021.
When he was appointed commissioner, the DOC was dealing with COVID-19 cases at the jails and a staffing crisis, which was created by thousands of officers who for months had routinely failed to report for duty.
Since Molina has been the DOC’s commissioner, there have been 19 deaths in 2022 and nine deaths this year on Rikers Island.
He is a veteran public safety leader, who has experience in military, law enforcement and corrections, according to the release.
Molina started his career in law enforcement as a police officer in the NYPD and rose to the rank of detective, the release said.
His replacement has not been announced.
