Opinion
November 8, 1990
Appeal from the Supreme Court, New York County (David B. Saxe, J.).
Petitioner, a police officer since 1982, passed an examination for promotion to police sergeant. After interviewing the petitioner and considering his personnel and medical records, the Police Department Personnel Review Board voted unanimously not to promote petitioner to the rank of sergeant.
It is well established that the appointing officer of a city agency has broad discretion to select individuals for civil service appointment and promotion (Matter of Cassidy v. Municipal Civ. Serv. Commn., 37 N.Y.2d 526). The courts will not interfere with the exercise of that discretion unless there is evidence of arbitrary or unlawful conduct by the appointing officer (Matter of Delicati v. Schechter, 3 A.D.2d 19), a showing not made on this record. Although not required to do so (Matter of Chikofsky v. Thompson, 22 A.D.2d 782), the respondents have demonstrated that certain aspects of the petitioner's personnel record (e.g., excessive sick leave and civilian complaints of excessive force) provided a rationale basis for the Police Commissioner's determination not to promote petitioner to the rank of sergeant (Matter of Schmitt v. Kiley, 124 A.D.2d 661, lv. denied 69 N.Y.2d 612).
Concur — Kupferman, J.P., Sullivan, Carro, Milonas and Smith, JJ.