Ray Kelly's new beat

After a ten-month stint as Bear Stearns' global security chief, Kelly has been named New York City's new police commissioner by new Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Kelly is no rookie: He's a 31-year NYPD veteran who ran the department under former mayor David Dinkins. Running the NYPD, says Kelly, "is a job that I feel is one of the top ten in the country. It's a very challenging time for the city, and I thought I could make a difference." While at Bear Stearns the 60-year-old Kelly (who previously headed the U.S. Customs Service) focused on improving the firm's processes for preventing money laundering. Since September 11 the government has been pushing Wall Street to improve its tracking of financial transactions. President Bush recently signed new anti-money-laundering legislation, but Treasury has yet to hand down detailed regulations. "Firms like Bear Stearns understand the general philosophy out of Washington," Kelly says. "Now they need specifics."