A look at past controversy involving resigning state police superintendent

After 16 months on the job, Kevin Bruen is out as New York State Police Superintendent.

Kevin Bruen had a tough call to duty from day one. He was the first non-trooper to hold the top position in decades.

His 20-year-plus career with the state police allowed him to learn the system inside and out, but he still had to win the trust and respect of 5,000 men and women in uniform.

Shortly after his confirmation in June 2021, the Andrew Cuomo appointee sat down with NewsChannel 13’s Mark Mulholland.

“I am very conscious of the responsibility of being superintendent,” Bruen said.

Watch Mark Mulholland’s interview when Bruen first took the job.

He may have been aware of the responsibilities, but did he follow them? Sources tell NewsChannel 13 that Breun had a close working relationship with the department’s former HR director, MaryEllen Tedesco. When she became the target of internal complaints, Breun did nothing.

Then there was a recent inspector general’s report. The report focused on the case of a trooper assigned to the Protective Services Unit and stationed at the Executive Mansion who had a relationship with Cuomo’s daughter.

The IG report cites specific regulations for the reporting and disciplining of inappropriate relationships.

Namely, “A member shall not engage in any activity that will interfere or could reasonably be expected to interfere with the proper, impartial, and effective performance of official duties or availability for regular or emergency duty.”

It goes on to say it was ultimately, “Bruen’s decision not to punish the trooper involved with Cuomo’s daughter, rather transfer him upstate.”

The report said: “Breun simply looked at the nature of the relationship and cut him a break,” concluding that “there was nothing unseemly about his behavior. They were having, what in all other contexts, would be a romantic relationship.”