When Police Commissioner Edward Caban resigns amid the federal government’s increasingly dire corruption investigations, New York’s best minds find themselves in a difficult position.

The NYPD served as a model for police departments in the United States and abroad because of one principle: a performance-based ethic that promoted the best people, ideas, strategies and technology led to excellence. But over the past decade, that department ethic has been increasingly eroded.

Former Mayor Bill de Blasio ushered in an era in which race and gender took neurotic center stage.

This led to promotions, actions, and a loudly proclaimed new narrative that emphasized “anti-racism” and self-flagellation over good policing, public safety, and respect.

Mayor Eric Adams has not only expanded this identity-based framework—by promising to hire the city’s first black female police commissioner—but he has also given it his own signature weakness by filling top positions from his somewhat shady, not-yet-ready-for-prime-time inner circle.

Phillip Banks III, for whom Adams expanded the role of deputy mayor for public safety to become a kind of executor for the NYPD, was an exemplary example of this “unindicted co-conspirator” reputation among Adams’ leadership.

Banks, who bears an eerie resemblance to Caban, resigned as chief of the NYPD a decade ago amid a federal corruption investigation.

And now last week, the home of Banks and First Deputy Mayor Sheena Wright was searched by FBI agents.

As part of an investigation into bribery related to city contract awards, FBI agents also seized the cell phones of Banks’ brother and fellow Adams-appointed school chancellor David C. Banks (who is actually Sheena Wright’s partner), as well as her younger brother Terence.

Adams’ special adviser and director for Asian affairs, Winnie Greco, also recently had her home searched as part of a separate investigation.

In the meantime, Commissioner Caban’s phone was confiscated, as was that of his Wario-like, underworld twin brother James Caban, who Also left the NYPD two decades ago under grim circumstances.

As one NYPD manager meaningfully remarked to me after Adams’ election, “It’s fine to appoint your friends – but you can’t appoint friends who aren’t qualified.”

Caban’s death should serve as a stark warning to us and we must demand that the NYPD return to a meritocratic approach.

Gotham faces enormous public safety challenges.

On the anniversary of September 11, the city is plagued by violent riots and devastation caused by hordes of openly terrorist demonstrators.

New York’s unique, self-destructive housing and immigration policies have made the city a magnet for underemployed and underserved men, and have caused urban unrest ranging from pickpocketing to rape.

And even though Adams is touting a decline in violence, there have just been three subway murders in two weeks, and teenagers are twice as likely to be stabbed and injured today as they were in 2021.

Adding to these challenges are even more progressive statewide laws raising the age of criminal responsibility, bail and parole restrictions, excessive disclosure requirements, and citywide bans on certain types of wrestling and protest activities.

To win, the NYPD must leverage its impressive tradition of evolving what works, regardless of a person’s background or a strategy.

After all, in even darker times, the NYPD pioneered new, militant ideas like “broken windows” policing and used creative technology to invent CompStat.

The NYPD has long had a majority minority police force, and its heroes range from the flamboyant rascal Jack Maple to the mild-mannered Boston nerd Bill Bratton.

And with these progressive and innovative features, the agency was able to attract recruits who had the natural talent and character to pursue other careers – but who chose to serve in the military.

Adams’ new pick to replace Caban will lead a department that is suffering from critical staff shortages and has also suffered the loss of many talented new hires who recently quit out of frustration with mismanagement, uninformed strategies or the insulting knowledge that they are too white or too male to make it to the top.

Just get us the really best person – without nepotism or criminal tendencies – and let them do the job.

Hannah E. Meyers is a fellow and director of policing and public safety at the Manhattan Institute.