New York City�s newly sworn-in police commissioner has told the force he wants to change a media-driven misperception that officers and the communities they patrol have a bad relationship.

Dermot Shea took the oath from Mayor Bill de Blasio on Monday at a police headquarters ceremony. His mother Ellen and wife Serena and their three children looked on, along with a room full of dignitaries and police officials.

They included former Commissioner William Bratton, but not Shea�s predecessor, James O�Neill, who was traveling to the west coast to start a job Monday as Visa Inc.�s head of global security after three years as police commissioner.

During the public ceremony, Shea, a statistical whiz who rose through the ranks from patrol officer and was most recently the chief of detectives, called it �truly humbling� to be named the 44th commissioner of �the greatest police department in the world.�

In a letter to officers, Shea said he was frustrated that residents� positive sentiments are not often reflected in news coverage of the nation�s largest police department.

�The vast majority of people I talk to in our communities are incredibly supportive of you, but then I see a news story that paints the police in a different light,� Shea wrote. �That narrative needs to be changed. And together, we�re going to change it.�

De Blasio, a Democrat, echoed Shea�s news media criticism during Monday�s ceremony, saying stories he sees on the city�s TV stations and in the newspapers inaccurately portray the city and its police force as �stuck in its past.�

De Blasio�s first campaign for the mayoralty was built partly on promises to reform the NYPD.

Some residents remain frustrated with the police, including over a recent spate of deadly shootings by officers and lingering mistrust from the prolonged disciplinary process for an officer who placed Eric Garner in a deadly chokehold in 2014.

Last month, hundreds of people marched in protest in Brooklyn after bystander video showed a white police officer punching a black teen during a brawl on a subway platform.

Shea, 50, inherits a department that is grappling with dueling mandates: drive homicides and other crime even lower than recent record lows, while preparing for statewide reforms, effective Jan. 1, that eliminate bail for non-violent felonies and replace arrests with appearance tickets for low-level offenses.

Shea�s strategy for dealing with those pressures, as well as public perceptions, involves expanding on predecessor James O�Neill�s neighborhood policing model, which has pushed officers out of their patrol cars and onto the streets so they can build bonds with residents.

Looking back to his days as a patrol officer in the rough-and-tumble Bronx of the early 1990s, Shea said he sees the potential for officers to have a positive impact on younger New Yorkers and guide them away from a life touched by crime � whether as a perpetrator or a victim.

�I don�t want to see one more child killed. I don�t want to see one more young person shot. I don�t want to see one more completely avoidable funeral,� Shea said. �At the same time, I don�t want to see one more kid wander along the road to getting arrested.�

The department�s 36,000 officers, he said, should �never forget for a second, not one second, the impact you make on others� lives.�

Moreover, after a tumultuous year of attacks on police with everything from water to a metal chair, Shea�s message to the men and women in blue appeared to be: I�ve got your back.

When officers were attacked, O�Neill�s mantra was �we�re not victims.� Shea, in his address Monday, said attacks on officers should be seen as attacks on society and denounced by all New Yorkers, �especially those in leadership positions.�

�Every person we serve deserves respect. And every cop must be respected, too, if they are to do their very dangerous jobs correctly,� Shea said. �This will always be a two-way street.�

(AP)