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An NYPD deputy commissioner enjoyed a recent swanky night out in the City of Brotherly Love — ferried back and forth by an official police chopper on the taxpayers’ dime, The Post has learned.
Deputy Commissioner Robert Ganley, the double-dipping head of the NYPD’s employee-relations unit, was acting as a fill-in for top cop Dermot Shea at the Annual Army-Navy Gala on Dec. 10 in Philadelphia when he enjoyed the perk involving an aircraft usually reserved for such things as monitoring potential emergencies during protests, police officials confirmed.
The helicopter started its flight — described as irregular by multiple police sources — at Floyd Bennett Field around 4:30 p.m. that Friday, picking up Ganley at the Downtown Manhattan Heliport and then taking off around 5:30 p.m. for Philadelphia, according to data by FlightAware.
Ganley’s personal courier service arrived just after 6 p.m. at Penn’s Landing Heliport in Philly, where the chopper’s crew then waited for more than four hours before he returned to be flown back to New York City, flight data shows.
The deputy commissioner was at the gala — hosted by the Ben Franklin Global Forum at the posh Union League — to represent the NYPD during its dinner event honoring “The Heroes of September 11, 2001,” according to a rundown of the event and a police spokeswoman.
The drive would have been about 2.5 to 3 hours from Lower Manhattan to the club that evening, according to Google Maps.
“The properly authorized use of a department aircraft was to ensure that Deputy Commissioner Ganley would also be able to honor prior commitments on both Friday and Saturday,” Sgt. Jessica McRorie told The Post.
The flight was signed off on by Shea and followed department protocols, she said.
But critics ripped the use of NYPD resources for Ganley, who pulls in nearly $400,000 between his department pension for his time on the force and his current civilian post with the Police Department.
“This needs to be investigated,” said New York City Councilman Robert Holden, who sits on the council’s Public Safety Committee, of the flight.
Holden speculated that the “poor decision” to allow it was due to a lame-duck police administration that has checked out.
“People actually commute to work in Manhattan from the Philly or Cherry Hill area. They could have found some other way, train or driving,” he said of police brass in terms of getting Ganley to the event.
A police source called the flight a “waste of resources.
“It’s a worthy event. But … to send him in an expensive helicopter when it’s a short drive … it’s not like he was going eight states away,” the source said.
“For 9/11 stuff, I usually give lots of slack. But c’mon, the money spent on [helicopter] fuel would’ve been better spent going into a [Sept, 11] survivors fund.”
FDNY Commissioner Daniel Nigro was invited to the event but also sent someone in his place — a fire chief who drove the 100 miles each way, as is standard protocol for the Fire Department, according to an agency spokesman.
While the exact cost of Ganley’s jaunt isn’t known, it’s clearly more than the price of gas and tolls in a car or a train ticket.
Taxpayers are likely on the hook for at least $1,200 in fuel for the helicopter, which reportedly costs about $600 in fuel per hour to fly, and the salaries of the NYPD pilot or pilots who were at the helm and make more than $100,000 annually.
A police spokeswoman — asked what it was about Ganley’s schedule that necessitated the flight — wouldn’t discuss his whereabouts that Friday. The rep only shared that on that Saturday, he attended the Police Benevolent Association’s Widows’ and Children’s holiday party, which started at 11:30 a.m.
The deputy commish tweeted a photo from Saturday’s kiddie event at 3:30 p.m.
Holden said it is “very suspect” that the NYPD wouldn’t share Ganley’s schedule to try to justify the flight.
This isn’t the first time the department’s aviation unit has made headlines for a controversial flight. In 2018, Mayor Bill de Blasio was criticized for using the NYPD’s $4 million spy plane to fly him back from his vacation in Canada.
Additional reporting by Julia Marsh and Nolan Hicks
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