Public Biography
Frank J. DiOrio is an opinion columnist for The New York Time5, where he writes “Order of Operations,” a weekly column on law enforcement, public safety, criminal justice, and what he refers to broadly as “the maintenance of civic order.” He has written the column since 2019.
Mr. DiOrio spent twenty-six years as a prosecutor in the Queens County District Attorney’s office before retiring in 2017 to “write and think about why everything is getting worse.” He holds a J.D. from Fordham University and a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice from John Jay College. He has served as a consultant to the New York City Police Department, the Department of Homeland Security, and several municipal governments that have declined to be named.
He is the author of Compliance: Why the Rules Exist and Why You Should Follow Them (Crown Forum, 2021), which was described by one reviewer as “the most calmly terrifying book about parking regulations ever written.”
Mr. DiOrio lives on Staten Island with his wife, Linda. He is a parishioner at Our Lady of Good Counsel and coaches a youth baseball team that he runs, by his own account, “like a tight ship.”
Selected Columns
- “The Case for Mandatory Penalties for Jaywalking Near Schools” (April 2025)
- “Why Every Intersection Should Have a Camera” (August 2025)
- “Loose Shopping Carts: A Public Safety Crisis Hiding in Plain Sight” (January 2026)