Ex-Probation Union Head: Name 'Tombs' After Ward; Late Jail, Police Commissioner
By TOMMY HALLISSEY
The former head of the Probation Officers union is lobbying the city to rename The Tombs in memory of ex-Correction and Police Commissioner Benjamin Ward.

The Chief-Leader/Pat Arnow 'HONOR A TRUE TRAILBLAZER': Former probation officers' union President Wallace B. Cheatham says that the Manhattan Detention Complex should be renamed in memory of Benjamin Ward, a former Correction Commissioner who became the city's first black Police Commissioner.

B. Wallace Cheatham, a past head of the United Probation Officers Association, has enlisted the support of Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver, former Mayor David Dinkins, U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel, the Rev. Al Sharpton, the Rev. Calvin Butts and Manhattan State Sen. Eric Adams, as well as 21 members of the City Council, in his bid to honor Mr. Ward.

'Very Worthy'

"This is something that I feel is very worthy," said Mr. Cheatham. "Ben Ward basically had a resume 50 times better than Bernie Kerik."

Formally known as the Manhattan Detention Complex, The Tombs was renamed the Bernard B. Kerik Complex by then-Mayor Rudy Giuliani in 2001 for his then-Police Commissioner and former Correction Commissioner. After Mr. Kerik in June 2006 pleaded guilty to state criminal charges pertaining to his having accepted $165,000 in renovation work on a Riverdale apartment from a mob-linked contractor seeking to do business with the city, Mayor Bloomberg had his named stripped from the lower Manhattan jail.

BENJAMIN WARD: 'Appropriate recognition' sought.

"Mr. Ward was the embodiment of a true trailblazer," wrote Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer as he endorsed naming the jail after him. "He was the first African-American officer in Brooklyn's 80th Precinct; the state's first African-American Correctional Services Commissioner; and the first African-American Police Commissioner of New York City. He served during turbulent and often tense times in the city, and always did so with honor and integrity."

Mr. Ward, who was born in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, climbed the ladder in the NYPD while earning bachelor's and law degrees. In 1975, then-Governor Carey made Mr. Ward the first black Commissioner of State Correctional Services. Three years later, then-Mayor Koch named him Chief of the Housing Authority Police. In 1979, he was named Correction Commissioner, and five years later, Mr. Koch made Mr. Ward the first black Commissioner of the NYPD. He retired in 1989.

'A Fitting Tribute'

State Senator Adams, who was a cop during Mr. Ward's tenure, stated, "It would be a fitting tribute to the memory of our city's first African-American Police Commissioner and an appropriate recognition of his dedication and contributions to our criminal justice system to name the Manhattan Detention Complex in his honor."

While Mr. Cheatham has received support from elected officials and activists, he says he has not gotten as much as he had hoped. "Actually, what's interesting is a number of City Council people just ignored it ... Christine Quinn for one," he said. "I was told this was an uptown issue and didn't relate to her downtown constituents." Correction Commissioner Martin F. Horn was also not inclined to rename the facility, according to Mr. Cheatham.

"Renaming the Manhattan jail after anyone is not something we are considering right now," said Stephen Morello, spokesman for the Department of Correction. "It has a name." The Mayor's Office declined to comment.

With or without Mr. Bloomberg's support, Mr. Cheatham said he would continue to work towards his goal. "To name it the Benjamin Ward Center would keep his name alive; it would keep him downtown and keep him with the Police and Correction Departments," he said. "I thought that this was basically a slam dunk."