In 1951 he joined the New York City Police Department. He was promoted to sergeant in 1959.[1] In 1961 he began working in the First Deputy Commissioner's office, where he specialized in investigating corruption. He remained in the First Deputy Commissioner's office where he climbed to the rank of deputy inspector. In 1971 he was appointed as an inspector in charge of the Sixth Division, which consisted of most of Harlem. In 1972, commissioner Patrick V. Murphy passed over 72 more senior officers to name Cawley chief of patrol.[2]
On April 12, 1973, it was announced that Cawley would succeed Murphy as police commissioner. At 43 years old he was the youngest commissioner in the department's history.[3] He was sworn in on May 14, 1973.[4]
As commissioner, Cawley overhauled the department's hiring practices by recruiting minorities, eliminating height requirements for officers, removing culturally biased questions from the Civil Service examination, and raising the age limit for new officers from 29 to 35.[1] Cawley also enacted a policy that would see veteran officers found guilty of accepting minority gratuities punished with a fine instead of automatic dismissal and loss of pension.[5] In an effort to combat street crime he assigned 1,000 detectives to patrol duty.[6] After the shooting of Clifford Glover, Cawley created a special panel to screen out officers with a history of violent tendencies so they could face disciplinary action, receive additional training, or be reassigned to less stressful positions.[7] He also instituted a name tag policy despite fierce opposition from the Police Benevolent Association of the City of New York.[8] Cawley was not retained by Mayor Abraham Beame and left office on December 31, 1973.[9]
