February 10, 2011; Source: New York Daily News | New York City’s top cop enjoys a perk probably unique in police circles. The New York City Police Foundation, a nonprofit that includes among its good works purchasing bulletproof vests and covering expenses of officers stationed overseas, also has been picking up Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly’s membership dues and meals at the exclusive Harvard Club. 

While no one is objecting to the nonprofit shelling out some $30,000 in dues and entertainment expenses over the past several years, the amount of the reimbursements are only now coming to light.  According to the New York Daily News, press disclosures last fall about these payments prompted Kelly to recently file newly amended disclosure forms with the city’s Conflict of Interest board.  They reveal reimbursements, dating back to 2006, ranging from a high of $15,000 in 2008 to at least $5,000 in 2009.  Although the foundation paid his club expenses in earlier years, amounts weren’t available because, as the New York Daily Newsreports, paperwork for 2002 to 2004 has been destroyed.

The New York Police Foundation didn’t respond to calls for comment from the newspaper so it’s hard to know how giving the police commissioner a free ride at the Harvard Club is in keeping with what it lists on its website as its primary areas of focus:  “continuing to reduce crime and protecting our city from global terrorism.”—Bruce Trachtenberg