Expert on community policing, lawyer and former NYC police officer

was Executive Director of New York City Commission on Human Rights

NEW YORK, NY,  – President Barack Obama has announced that he intends to nominate Benjamin B. Tucker, a professor of criminal justice at Pace University, as Deputy Director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Professor Tucker is one of two New Yorkers who the White House announced as intended nominees yesterday, the other being David S. Ferriero, the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the New York Public Libraries, who will be nominated to be Archivist of the United States.

If confirmed, Professor Tucker’s title will be Deputy Director for State, Local and Tribal Affairs, Office of National Drug Control Policy.

The White House release said of Tucker:

“Benjamin B. Tucker currently serves as a professor of criminal justice at Pace University.  With 40 years of experience in the fields of law enforcement and criminal justice, he is a recognized expert in community policing.

“He has worked as a consultant to the Urban Institute and as Director of Field Operations and Senior Research Associate at the National Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University. Within government, Mr. Tucker served as Deputy Director for Operations at the U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Community Oriented Policing Services; Executive Director of the New York City Commission on Human Rights; Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Services in the Office of the Mayor of New York City; and Chief Executive for School Safety and Planning at the New York City Department of Education. 

“He began his career with the New York City Police Department in 1969, and prior to being assigned as beat cop, was one of a select group of new precinct service officers educated by medical and other substance abuse experts to conduct innovative drug prevention and education programs in city schools and colleges.

“Mr. Tucker was born and raised in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn; he received his Bachelor’s in Criminal Justice from the John Jay College of Criminal Justice, City University of New York, and his JD from the Fordham University School of Law.

The White House release is at http://www.whitehouse.gov/the_press_office/President-Obama-Announces-More-Key-Administration-Posts-7-28-09. The University’s profile is at http://www.pace.edu/page.cfm?doc_id=27693.

For 103 years Pace University has produced thinking professionals by providing high quality education for the professions on a firm base of liberal learning amid the advantages of the New York metropolitan area. A private university, Pace has campuses in New York City and Westchester County, New York, enrolling nearly 13,000 students in bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs in its Lubin School of Business, Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lienhard School of Nursing, School of Education, School of Law, and Seidenberg School of Computer Science and Information Systems. www.pace.edu