New York Gov. Kathy Hochul presents her 2025 executive state budget in the Red Room at the state Capitol Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2024, in Albany, N.Y. Hochul nominated Steven G. James, a former New York State Police deputy superintendent, as the top leader of the police force on Wednesday, which would make him the third Black person to hold the agency’s highest rank.
Photo: Hans Pennink/AP
ALBANY — New York Gov. Kathy Hochul has nominated a 32-year veteran of the New York State Police to be its new leader.
If the state Senate agrees, Steven G. James would be the second Black person confirmed to hold the rank of superintendent and the third to lead the 5,000-member force, which has struggled for years to diversify its ranks.
It is not immediately clear when state lawmakers will vote on his confirmation, but for now, James will lead in an acting role.
“I was very intentional in selecting a leader who understood, starting out from the very beginning, what it was like to be in the shoes of our state police. Someone who rose to the ranks, someone who has led with integrity and dignity,” Hochul said at the nomination event near Albany, the state’s capitol.
James, a graduate of SUNY Albany, has held various leadership roles over two decades, most recently as deputy superintendent for employee relations, according to the governor’s office.
“This opportunity comes around once in a lifetime, if you’re lucky. Governor Hochul’s nomination is my crowning achievement,” James said in a prepared statement. “I look forward to bringing the State Police further into the arena of cutting-edge policing and to serving as a model agency.”
Harry J. Corbitt became the state police’s first confirmed Black superintendent in 2008. Preston Felton briefly led the department as acting superintendent before Corbitt, but he was never confirmed.
Hochul noted the agency’s efforts to become more inclusive, saying the force is trying to make it ranks reflect the entirety…
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