A hard-nosed first-rank Brooklyn detective who got wrapped up in the power struggle between City Hall and former Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell was promoted to a top civilian post in the department last week, The Post has learned.
In a one-on-one interview, Kaz Daughtry — a 17-year veteran who was named to an assistant commissioner post on July 17 — touted his “boots on the ground” career and hit back at detractors who accused him of undermining Sewell during her tenure.
“There’s a lot of noise,” Daughtry, 44, told The Post. “The people that want to spin this drama are sitting way up in the bleachers.
“I wear boots on the ground here.”
Sources told The Post last month — in the wake of Sewell’s abrupt exit — that Daughtry had been “literally running” the department thanks to his clout with NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, a close ally of Mayor Eric Adams.
“The mayor runs the city, the police commissioner runs the police department – so that’s that,” Daughtry insisted.
“This team… we’ve been working together for a long time, before they got [promoted], so there’s that. Mutual respect,” he added. “One mission, one goal — to keep everyone safe.”
As a newly appointed assistant commissioner, Daughtry will monitor critical police situations, including officer-involved shootings, and serve as Adams’ liaison to the NYPD.
In the week since he changed his uniform for a smart blue business suit, Daughtry said he’s been visiting NYPD bureaus and stationhouses asking, “What do you need?”
He said he will have — as he always has — an open door policy.
Critics had seized on Daughtry’s proximity to Maddrey, his longtime mentor and boss — as well as his ties to City Hall — labeling him a “cowboy,” and “knucklehead.”
But Daughtry, who has made appearances on the department’s YouTube series “True Blue: NYPD’s Finest” — usually right next to Maddrey or Chief of Patrol John Chell — said he’s nothing of the sort.
“A cowboy is a reckless individual,” he said. “Do I consider myself a cowboy? No. I consider myself a person that just gets things done.”
He explained that Maddrey is simply a mentor who sparked his desire to be a cop after the two met when Daughtry was in the law enforcement explorer program.
“I was playing basketball in LeFrak City [in Queens] — that’s where I grew up — and this [young police] officer came over,” Daughtry recalled. “‘This is my beat. This is my area here. If you need anything, kid, let me know.’ That officer was Chief Maddrey — Officer Maddrey at the time.”
Daughtry said he was enticed to become a cop after joining the youth program — with Maddrey taking him under his wing. He first served in Brooklyn’s 73rd Precinct, and later at the 75th Precinct stationhouse.
“When I think of my childhood, I think of walking to the basketball court and looking at the floor and seeing like the little vials of crack, like they had blue tops, red tops, yellow tops,” he said. “But my mother felt comfortable knowing that Officer Maddrey was out there when I was out there.”
Daughtry rose through the ranks, serving as executive officer of patrol in the department’s Brooklyn South sector in 2014 and earning a promotion to second-grade detective in 2020.
In December 2022, he earned the rank of first-grade detective, the bureau’s most prestigious rank, and began working in Maddrey’s office at One Police Plaza.
Despite having detractors, Daughtry also has legions of supporters among New York’s Finest.
“I think Kaz has a lot of haters because if you don’t know him you don’t know how hard he works,” one law enforcement source said Sunday.
“You think he’s just someone that holds the chief’s umbrella and nothing could be further from the truth. Kaz was always careful about not stepping on anyone’s toes,” the source said. “Ask his family how many weekends he’s been working when he was supposed to be off.”
Said another source, ‘No one outworks [Daughtry].
“We used to put younger cops with him,” the source said. “And he could pivot on a dime and walk into a community council meeting, and they loved him.”
