NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea calls resignation rumors ‘absolutely false’

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea said Monday that rumors of his resignation as part of a massive shake-up just over six months after he was named top cop are “absolutely false.”

“I absolutely feel I have the support of the mayor,” Shea said in an interview with NY1.

Speculation swirled Sunday that Shea and Chief of Department Terence Monahan, the highest-ranking uniformed cop, would soon be out, according to sources.

Mayor Bill de Blasio slapped down chatter that Shea and Monahan were out during morning television appearances Monday.

“I’m going to be blunt. This is idiocy,” the mayor said on PIX11. “First of all, these are two leaders I’ve been working with constantly for years. They are in their jobs because I put them there.”

He added, “I think very highly of Dermot Shea and Terence Monahan.”

The resignation rumors came amid intense scrutiny of the department’s handling of the ongoing George Floyd protests, as well as the larger calls for systemic change spurred by the death of the black man killed May 25 when a white Minneapolis cop kneeled on his neck.

Shea, the former chief of detectives, has only held the post since Dec. 1, when de Blasio tapped him to replace outgoing Commissioner James O’Neill.

Shea has called for protesters to put a stop to the violence against cops.

“Violence has been used multiple times during what could have been and what should have been peaceful protests,” he said at a livestreamed press conference late last week.

Nearly 300 city officers have been injured on the job during the protests over Floyd’s death, police said, although it was unclear how many of those members were hurt as the result of confrontations with protesters.

The NYPD has suspended two cops who were caught on bystander video shoving and pepper-spraying protesters at separate recent demonstrations.

Additional reporting by Julia Marsh