ALBANY — The New York State Police is replacing the head of the special protective detail assigned to guard Gov. Kathy Hochul, following allegations detailed in a state Attorney General probe revealed disgraced ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo sexually harassed a female trooper working on the same detail.
An internal memo was sent Thursday notifying all troopers that the head of the agency’s NYC Troop, Major Douglas Larkin, will take o🍷ver the governor’s Protective Services Unit from Dave Dively effective next week.
The change was by the Albany Times Union on ওFri⭕day.
“Superintendent [Kevin] Bruen dire🐈cted a thorough internal review of all aspects of the PSU, which resulted in recommendations to professionalize the unit, including changes to leadership and procedures,” trooper spokesman Beau Duffy told The Post in a statement.
Staff Inspector Jennifer Gotts🌃tine will oversee the change and “include the appointment of permanent rank commissioned officers to the unit’s command staff,” the agency sa🃏id.
Di💜vely is a ‘technical’ lieutenant who has served on the detail for 11 years but did not take the necessary exams according to agency requirements that would permit him to lead and instead will be transferred to the NYS Intelligence Center, the paper reported.
AG Letitia James’ bombshell sexual harassment report released Aug. 3 concluded Cuomo sexually harassed 11 women — one of them identified as “Trooper #1.”
In the report, the trooper told investigators that the former governor ran his hand or fingers across her stomach and back, kissed her on the cheek and openly ran his hand over her abdomen as she held a door open for him, making her feel “compไletely violated🤪.”
The ex-pol also asked her for help in finding a girlfriend and asked her why she didn’t wear a dress, according to the 🗹report.
Cuomo’s personal attorney Rita Glavin has admitted Cuomo “may have touched” the trooper’s back, but in recent weeks wrote a letter to the state Assembly Judiciary Committee — which is in the process of finalizing a report on Cuomo’s harassment allegations as well as other topics — where she denied the ex-pol sexually harassed all 11 women in the AG’s report.
When asked during a Wednesday press conference how many women Cuomo allegedly harassed, Glavin sa🦄id defiantly “none.”
She has since asked James’ office to amend parts of the report in a 150-page submission and appoint an indep𓄧endent investigator to oversee her request.
“I think in any organization recovering from a scandal or a shakeup like that I think it’s normal they do a shakeup in internal personnel — whether it’s a big fortune 500 corporation or any large state police organization,” PBA of New York State Police President Tom Mungeer told The Post.
“The members of the detail took a first and foremost seat in that investigation. There were definitely some problems with members of the detail that led to the [former] governor’s demise, by no fault at all with the troopers and that female trooper was a victim in all this.”
He sa💮id Hochul is within her right to make changes within the uni🍬t.
“If she sees there is a necessity for change, she has the authority to do so,” he said, adding Larkin has “been a friend for over 20 years” and is “a very capable leader.”
