Teaneck High School Graduate Named to Top NYPD Post

New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly has tapped a Teaneck High School graduate and former publishing executive for a senior position in the department’s press office.

Valerie Salembier, who lived in Hackensack and moved to Teaneck at age 12, was named assistant commissioner at the NYPD’s public information office, known as DCPI, officials announced Thursday.

As a child raised Jewish in Hackensack, Salembier said the city’s lone Jewish police officer was a career role model for her, the New York Times reported.

“Valerie Salembier brings a tremendous depth of media experience to DCPI and broad knowledge of public safety issues as a result of her outstanding leadership as chair of the New York City Police Foundation,” Kelly said, the New York Daily News reported. “Her willingness to serve in this role is but the latest expression of her passionate devotion to New York City and the men and women who protect it on a daily basis.”

She served as president of the New York Post, publisher at Esquire and as an executive at Town & Country magazine. Salembier is no stranger to the NYPD, having worked with Kelly at the non-profit New York Police Foundation, a group that raises private money for law enforcement initiatives.

Salembier said her NYPD post was born from a longtime link with Kelly.

“The police commissioner asked me. I’ve been working with him for 25 years,” she told Women’s Wear Daily. “I’ve always had an interest in law enforcement.”

The NYPD’s press office runs 24 hours a day and fields thousands of media inquires ranging from reporters probing for details on high-profile crimes to questions about global terrorism issues.

“Everything and anything that makes news that has to do with the NYPD,” Salembier said in the report. “My goal is to put out good news because there’s always good news, such as the murder rate being down.”

While New York has gained widespread praise for its record-low homicide rate, the NYPD is not without its public relations challenges. The department continues to face criticism over its controversial “stop and frisk” tactic some say amounts to racial profiling.

In addition to spreading “good news” about the nation’s largest municipal police force, Salembier could work with the department’s press team to manage media around major emergencies.

Salembier will report to newly-appointed Deputy Commissioner John J. McCarthy, an aide to Mayor Michael Bloomberg and ex-Port Authority public affairs director.

McCarthy, a former NYPD assistant commissioner, will replace longtime Kelly confidant Paul Browne as the agency’s chief spokesman.