Meet the NYPD’s highest-ever-ranking Orthodox Jew — a 9/11 hero who vows to fight antisemitic hate crime

This cop’s a mensch on a mission.

The NYPD recently promoted the department’s highest-ever-ranking Orthodox Jew — a 9/11 hero who wears a yarmulke on the job — as the city fights a wave of antisemitic hate crime.

Richie “Yechiel” Taylor was bumped up to deputy chief of the Community Affairs Bureau , the department’s sixth highest post, in February and is now urging New Yorkers to show off their religious pride.

“Don’t change who you are. Don’t take off your hijab, cross, turban or anything else you wear proudly that reflects your beliefs and way of life,” Taylor, 42, told The Post.

“There’s no need to hide who you are in this city,” he said, adding that applies to Jews wearing the star of David. “Be proud of who you are.”

The Torah-reading top cop, who has five daughters ages 2 to 20, said the NYPD is working tirelessly to stomp out hate crime.

“You are safe right where you are. I lead by example – I wear my yarmulke in uniform,” he said. “Your NYPD has your back.”

Though his strict religious observance includes Shabbat, from Friday to Saturday evenings, his motto of “always being on call” is completely kosher, according to Jewish law.

The Torah principle to save lives takes precedence over all else, even on days of rest — and Taylor considers taking emergency calls part of that exception, he said.

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“It’s mostly regarding someone missing — a child or someone elderly,” he said, adding the day-of-rest calls range from one a week to one a month.  “I’m always on call, and that includes Shabbos.”

Taylor grew up going to yeshivas in Brooklyn and knew from an early age he wanted to help people, he said.

At age 15, he became a police explorer for the 61st Precinct in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn. Three years later, he began working as an EMT and soon bravely responded to the World Trade Center before the towers collapsed on 9/11.

In the hours after the attack, Taylor treated “dazed” FDNY members at the Hatzalah command post near Ground Zero, many of whom were devastated over losing colleagues.

He washed their eyes out with sterile water, hydrated them and did his best to support them emotionally,  he said.

“You do your best to be there for them – there was a lot of psychological first aid. A lot of the time, first aid doesn’t need oxygen or a bandage,” he said.

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He later attended Touro University in Manhattan, married at age 20 and had his children over the next two decades.

In 2005, Taylor was sworn in as a police officer at age 23 and spent a career serving in over 10 commands across the city.

Before his promotion in February, Police Commissioner Edward Caban reportedly called Taylor a “mensch” and praised him as “the ultimate NYPD ambassador, building bridges in both good times and bad.”

Taylor’s current job includes “outreach to all communities, not just the Jewish community,” he told The Post.

“An attack on one community is an attack on us all,” he said, adding that “no one in this city should be attacked because of their way of life.”

But the past several months have been especially nerve-wracking for some Jewish folks in the Big Apple — with antisemitic hate crimes up 45 percent so far in 2024 compared to the same period last year, according to data obtained by The Post .

So far this year, 229 antisemitic hate crimes have been reported to the NYPD through last Sunday, according to NYPD data.  By that time last year, 126 such incidents were reported.

Jewish hate crime increased by 150 percent in the month of May compared to May 2023, from 22 to 55 incidents, according to the  data.

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Taylor acknowledged “there is real fear” among Jewish New Yorkers but said they should rest easy knowing the culprits are no match for his brothers in blue.

“The NYPD is making arrest after arrest after arrest” for anti-Semitic hate crimes, Taylor said.

“NYC is safe for the Jewish community, and we are aggressively pursuing all perpetrators of Jewish hate crimes.”

Taylor cited the case of Anas Saleh , 24 — an anti-Israel protester who allegedly stormed a Big Apple subway car and demanded that “Zionists” raise their hands in June — as an example of how hate crime offenders fear the NYPD.

“He turned himself in because he knew the police department was already looking for him,” Taylor said.

His arrest “shows that we will find you, and you will answer for that,” he said.

Saleh was charged with attempted coercion and released with a desk-appearance ticket, according to authorities.

For New Yorkers considering fleeing the city, don’t move an inch, Taylor said.

“That’s what the terrorists and antisemites want,” he said. “The way to fight back is to continue our way of life.”

He urged Big Apple residents to “be vigilant” — but said folks can rest assured: “You’re safe on the streets of New York City.”

Additional reporting by Natalie O’Neill

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