They are standing on the shoulders of giants.
Three NYPD chiefs spoke with The Post about being among the top black officers in the department on Friday in honor of Black History Month.
Bronx Commander Chief Benjamin Gurley, Queens South Commander Chief Christopher McIntosh and Midtown North Commander Chief Aaron Edwards all spoke about the challenges of being great leaders in the nation’s largest police department.
“Growing up in the Bronx, we see green and white cars driving around and we know this place exists, but no one wants to go into it,” said Gurley, 52, a father of three.
He found a mentor through his involvement with the Police Athletic League in the Hunt’s Point area and decided he wanted to join the city’s Finest.
But once he got into the job, the first-generation police officer found that there weren’t many senior officers like him.
“When I entered the workforce in 2000, the workforce looked very different,” Gurley said. “I’ve had black bosses I’ve seen, but not as many as I see now. And I never thought in a million years I’d be sitting here as a two-star king.”
Being promoted was difficult and he said it was draining and doing work without getting a reward.
“If you can work hard and see people pass you by … you can get discouraged and you might not want to work hard,” he said. “That’s gone down a lot over the last few years.”
Chief Christopher McIntosh grew up on the island of Jamaica and moved to the US with his family when he was 9 years old. Today, he runs all Queens South patrols covering the Jamaica area.
When he joined in 1998, he knew all the senior black officials, he said.
“It wasn’t that many,” McIntosh said. “From where we started to where we are, there is a big difference.”
Another challenge was learning how to use the system, he said.
He did this by going to different leaders and asking them what they would do and following their advice if he saw that it made sense.
“I stand on the shoulders of giants,” he said.
Chief Aaron Edwards started the job in 2003, when black police officers were beginning to grow, he said.
“I was very blessed to arrive when I did,” he said. “I had a lot of mentors so I always felt like the hard work was done before I started.”
Seven of the NYPD’s 25 chiefs are black — nearly a third — under Police Commissioner Jessica Tisch, more than ever before, an NYPD spokeswoman said.
He remembers a Black History Month event about 20 years ago at One Police Plaza where all the pictures of black officers were flashed on a giant movie screen.
“I can still see that today, and I thought it was really cool to see,” Edwards recalled. “You know, it was probably 15 or 16 black officers, at their desks or calling people.”
