Raymond Walter Kelly is the Commissioner of the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and the first person to hold the post for two non-consecutive tenures. A lifelong New Yorker, Kelly has spent 43 years in the NYPD according to its website, serving in 25 different commands and as Police Commissioner from 1992 to 1994 and 2002–present.

During his tenure with the NYPD, Kelly held most of the department’s ranks, except for the Three-Star Bureau Chief, Chief of Department, or Deputy Commissioner. He was promoted directly from Two-Star Chief to First Deputy Commissioner in 1990. After his handling of the World Trade Center bombing in 1993, he was mentioned for the first time as a possible candidate for FBI Director. After Kelly turned down the position, Louis Freeh was appointed.

Kelly was also in the running to become the first United States Ambassador to Vietnam, after President Bill Clinton extended full diplomatic relations to that country in 1995.