He fatally shot an NYPD cop execution-style decades ago in a Queens bar — and now Richard Rivera is helping reform police in upstate New York as part of a state-mandated plan launched by Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
The cop-killer — who murdered off-duty officer and dad-of-four Robert Walsh in 1981 — sits on a panel for Ithaca and Tompkins County as part of its “Reimagining Public Safety Collaborative.’’
The advisory group was formed after Cuomo ordered municipalities to submit police-reform plans to the state by April 1 following George Floyd’s death.
“I know people are going to be critical,’’ killer-turned-homeless advocate Rivera, 56, told The Post on Monday when asked about the possible reaction to him sitting on the committee.
“I don’t know if [Walsh’s] family would find this acceptable,’’ he said. “I can’t control that. What I can control is the way I’ve been living my life.
“I’m holding the memory of Officer Walsh to the highest standard of policing in terms of a protector to the community, somebody who cares for the community.”
Robert Walsh, the NYPD officer who was killed in 1981 by Richard Rivera.
Robert Walsh, the NYPD officer who was killed in 1981 by Richard Rivera.
But one of the slain officer’s sons said Rivera doesn’t have to wonder any longer what the family thinks — it is disgusted by the ex-con’s position on the advisory panel.
“We’re completely shocked that the man who murdered my father is being trusted to create police reforms,” Robert Walsh Jr., 47, told The Post through a rep.
nypost.com/2021/03/29/nyc-cop-killer-now-helping-to-reform-the-police/