(NEW YORK POST) NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton is leaving the NYPD for a private-sector job and will be replaced by Chief of Department James O’Neill, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Tuesday.

Bratton will officially leave One Police Plaza next month, with O’Neill assuming command Sept. 16, sources said.

Bratton’s impending departure comes after he repeatedly helped push crime to its lowest levels in recent history — but amid an unfolding police corruption scandal that he’s called the worst since the Knapp Commission revelations of the early 1970s.

The feds are also conducting a wide-ranging probe of de Blasio’s fundraising operation and suspected pay-to-play practices. The mayor put a positive spin on the NYPD’s leadership change during a hastily scheduled news conference at City Hall.

“This is a very important day for New York City — a very good day, a very meaningful day,” de Blasio declared. The mayor hailed O’Neill as “one of the best-prepared incoming police commissioners this city has ever seen.”

“This is that man who created that vision of neighborhood policing, and he will see that vision through for the good of all New Yorkers,” de Blasio said.

De Blasio lauded Bratton as an “utterly inestimable and extraordinary” leader and said they had developed “an intense bond” since Bratton returned for his second stint as police commissioner 31 months ago.

“I’m happy for your future, but I want you to know, this friendship — I’ll miss seeing you every day — but this friendship and this deep, deep connection will continue,” he said.