2022 Honoree - Sonny Grasso Law Enforcement Award

Det. Paul DiGiacomo

Detective Paul DiGiacomo is the President of the Detectives’ Endowment Association, Inc. (DEA), the labor union representing approximately 18,000 active and retired New York Police Department Detectives: the largest Detectives union in the world. He has been a union representative for most of his almost 40 years on the New York City police force.

DiGiacomo earned his Detective’s gold shield in 1993. When he moved to the Organized Crime Investigation Division (OCID) in 1994, he was elected the DEA’s Delegate for that unit. In OCID, he worked in various gun units and narcotics task forces. From 1996 to 1999, he was assigned to the High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area Task Force (HIDTA).

In 1999, DiGiacomo became the DEA’s Sergeant-at-Arms, a post he was re-elected to in May of 2000. In December of 2001, DiGiacomo was promoted by the NYPD to the rank of Detective, second grade, for his participation in and performance as an Undercover in a 12-year investigation into the homicide of a Queens Police Officer. In June of 2004, and again in 2008, DiGiacomo was elected to the position of Treasurer on the Executive Board of the DEA. He was elected Vice President of the union in 2012, and again in 2016. In January of 2020, DiGiacomo was elevated to the position of DEA union President.

As President of the DEA, DiGiacomo spearheads all union activity, including collective bargaining, political action, overseeing the health and welfare funds, the Annuity Fund, and the union’s not-for-profit charity, the DEA Widows’ and Children’s Fund. The union also engages in a wide variety of internal and external public relations ventures and fraternal functions.

“We have been busy educating the public about the incredible work our members do every day through an increased social media, press, and advertising presence,” DiGiacomo says.

Some of the Union’s other accomplishments during the past two years have been upgrades in health benefits for active and retired members, the settlement of a long-lingering contract, and the development of a new time-tracking app to clock active members’ off-duty overtime. The DEA also spearheaded the design of a new protective vest named after the late Det. Brian Simonsen, won a COLA increase for line of duty families, fought for and won COVID death benefit line of duty status for eight active members who succumbed to the Coronavirus, and was successful in overturning the dangerous Diaphragm Compression bill, although the City has appealed the decision. The Union continues fighting for its members’ rights.

Since 1983, DiGiacomo has been an active member of the NYPD Columbia Association, the fraternal order of Italian American police. He rose through the ranks of the Association and was elected the organization’s President, serving his two-year term in 2004 and 2005. Additionally, he is a member of the Honor Legion, as well as an Honorary Member of the Transit Police Retirees Association, and a graduate of Harvard University’s Trade Union Program.

"I am extremely proud to be President of a union that has fought for, and won, so many labor protections for its members,” says DiGiacomo. He points out that over the past 20 years, the DEA has worked hard to negotiate or pass legislatively many successes, such as: protections for Undercover Detectives; increases in grade and in the number of active Detectives on the force; increased benefits for widows; credit for members’ military time; and the passage of the federal and state Zadroga bills ensuring health care screening, compensation, retirement, and death benefits for 9/11 first responders suffering from the after-effects of the rescue and recovery efforts of the World Trade Center attacks.

"Even 22 years after the attacks," DiGiacomo relates, “we’re still dealing with the health ramifications. At least 120 of our members have passed away in the line of duty from World Trade Center-related illnesses. We fought for another 9/11-related bill which will cover additional medical conditions and cancers; and we fought for and won line of duty disability (3/4s) retirement benefits for those who have long term COVID-19.

“We still have many challenges we face daily,” DiGiacomo adds, noting that, since he took the union’s helm, the recent protests and efforts to defund the police have made this an especially trying time. “The spate of anti-police bills on the City and State level, and possibly the federal level, are making it enormously difficult for us to do our jobs,” he says. “We are battling a rise in crime while dealing with financial restraints,” he notes, which present more and more challenges for the City and the nation’s police. But DiGiacomo appears ready to take on the task. With his union and Board Officers, the DEA is currently fighting for pension equity for Tier III members of the NYPD, fighting against “bail reform” and other ill-conceived legislation, working towards more promotions and grade for more Detectives, and working on new legislation named after Det. Brian Simonsen in order to compel telecommunications companies immediately to render inactive any cell phone as soon as it is stolen, thus eliminating the incentive for perpetrators to steal cell phones.

He adds, “I took over this union during its most difficult time in modern police history: through an international pandemic, the loss of eight active Detectives to COVID-19, the roll-out of the vaccine, record-breaking hurricanes and floods, and the riots, looting, and protests of 2020.

“Regardless of all these challenges, with our dynamic current Board of Officers, I look forward to continuing to usher the DEA through the coming years with labor solidarity and a strong union spirit. I truly believe the Detectives of the NYPD are, as our motto relates, ‘The Greatest Detectives in the World.’ It is a privilege and honor to represent them.”