Ex-911 operator linked to Eric Adams gets 5x pay rise in top NYC posts

A longtime pal of Mayor Eric Adams rose from a retired 911 dispatcher living on a $30,000 pension to be tapped for one of the highest-paying positions in city government, a $241,000-per-year gig.

The NYPD named Lisa White as its assistant commissioner of labor relations in May – with her official biography in the city promoting her previous work as an “interim supervisor” in the police department’s 911 system, from which she was retired with a base salary of 53,000 US Dollars in December 2019 and later as a Field Supervisor at the Census Bureau.

Now White — who Adams rented a room at her Brooklyn address for four years, according to The City — is responsible for overseeing the mental health and morale of the NYPD’s 35,000 uniformed members.

And she earns nearly five times her previous job as a 911 driver.

The former “police communications engineer” “regularly reviews administrative processes and internal policies to identify and provide effective recommendations that build on community-police relationships,” the site said.

White’s move to the lucrative top job is just the latest eyebrow-raising appointment from the Adams administration.

In January, Adams tried to appoint his brother Bernard Adams to a $242,000-per-year post as the NYPD’s assistant commissioner of government affairs before the kibosh made the controversial move.

White was quietly appointed to her deputy chief post after the previous chief, Robert Ganley, got the boot from NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell, an Adams-appointed aide.

Ganley was “demanded” to step down after The Post revealed he used a taxpayer-funded NYPD helicopter to shuttle himself back and forth to Philadelphia for a swanky gala.

White was making $53,000 a year when she retired as a 911 dispatcher in 2019, records show. She now earns a pension of around $30,000 a year on top of her assistant commissioner salary of more than $241,000.

She had worked as a 911 dispatcher since 1995 — while she and Adams apparently cemented their friendship through the group 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, which he co-founded and which she helped represent, said The City, which first discussed whites stunning appointment reported to the top government post.

White eventually rented a room to Adams on McKeever Place in 2013 while he was running for borough president, The City said. He lived there until 2017.

Know also worked as Adams’ campaign spokeswoman 2020 when he was running for mayor.

Asked Tuesday about White’s appointment to the sweet NYPD post, Adams told a bevy of reporters that the police department is “processing those questions.

“The NYPD handles staffing, but all my agencies say you have to get the best people for the job, and we did that, we were successful,” Hizzoner said.

An NYPD official told the Post in a statement Tuesday, “Deputy Commissioner Lisa White applied to retire from the service of the NYPD communications department in 2019 after a 29-year career with the agency.

“She is currently performing her duties as Deputy Commissioner for Labor Relations, leading the department’s efforts to improve the health, well-being and morale of all employees. Supporting the families of fallen officers and members who are seriously injured and/or ill; and liaison with the department’s 40 fraternal, religious and ethnic organizations.”

White was not immediately available.

Adams has taken heat for some of his administration’s appointments in the past.

In the case of his brother Bernard, Adams eventually bowed to pressure, including from the city’s Conflicts of Interest Board, and was content to award him a title as senior adviser to his security team for $1 a year.

There was Timothy Pearson, a close friend of Adams’s, whom he made one of his top public safety advisors – although Pearson worked for both the city’s Economic Development Corporation and in the private sector for Resorts World Casino.

The casino dropped Pearson amid the controversy.

Adams has denied any conflicts of interest in his appointments.

Additional reporting by Georgett Roberts