Last week Ibrahim Baycora, 60, became Paterson, New Jersey’s first Muslim police chief. He was sworn in by Andre Sayegh, the city’s first Arab-American mayor. NJ.COM proclaims the duo are “making history and starting a new chapter for a department beset by corruption and fighting rampant gun crime for years.”
Chief Baycora, whose family immigrated to Paterson from Turkey when he was young, reflects on what sets him apart from other chiefs. “I don’t think my religion makes the difference but my background does. Being a first generation immigrant, people often tend to relax. And they feel like they’ll be treated fairly. Especially if they feel like they’re from a marginalized group.”
Mayor Sayegh believes that Baycora may be the first Turkish-American police chief of any city in the country. The mayor says that the factors appointing Baycora to the position were simple — “His intelligence. His stellar reputation. And his unassailable integrity.”
