NYC police watchdog leader resigns, goes out on ‘own terms’ after rift with Adams admin

The outspoken head of the NYPD watchdog has resigned from her post — leaving on “her own terms” after months of pressure from the Adams administration for her to step down, The Post has learned.

Arva Rice submitted her resignation Monday morning in a letter to Mayor Adams , stepping down as interim chairwoman of the Civilian Complaint Review Board on Aug. 15.

She will not stay on and continue to serve on the board, according to the letter, which was obtained by The Post.

“I think she wanted to go out on her own terms,” one source said, referencing the tension with City Hall.

The move, while not unexpected , took many by surprise inside the agency, some of whom learned of her departure from news reports.

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Her replacement has not been named, according to sources, who believed her resignation also caught the administration off guard.

Her resignation was first reported by The New York Times.

Rice, who joined the agency under former Mayor Bill de Blasio and was named interim head of the police oversight board by Adams in 2022, has been at odds with the administration since the spring when Deputy Mayor Phil Banks asked her to step down.

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The interim board leader had believed she was on the path to a full appointment before Banks and others inside the administration became increasingly frustrated with her scathing public statements .

Rice had slammed the administration for her budget cuts , which she said made it nearly impossible to properly investigate civilian complaints, and criticized the police department’s handling of the 2019 police shooting of Kawaski Trawick , a black man who was killed in his own home when he allegedly refused to put down a kitchen knife.

The Post previously revealed that Rice has tried to get a meeting with the mayor in April after the meeting with Banks by having a trusted ally approach Adam’s chief advisor Ingrid Lewis-Martin.

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But those efforts proved fruitless, with Lewis-Martin simply saying, “We need to make a change,” according to sources.

Banks had given Rice the option to stay on as a board member, the sources added.

In her resignation letter, Rice thanked the mayor for the opportunity and praised her team for clearing a backlog of cases and improving transparency as well as increasing communication and accountability with NYPD.

“The CCRB is an independent board, and the mayor made it clear to the interim chair that she is more than welcome to serve on the CCRB board to continue to do this important work for New Yorkers,” said City Hall spokesperson Amaris Cockfield. “We wish her all the best in her future endeavors.”

The NYPD’s top union leader welcomed the change at the CCRB.

“The PBA has been calling for new appointments to CCRB’s board who can instill fairness in its decision-making processes and bring it in line with its City Charter mandate,” said PBA President Patrick Hendry. “Unfair treatment at CCRB doesn’t just destroy police officers’ morale — it jeopardizes public safety by driving even more cops out of the NYPD amid the ongoing staffing crisis.”

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