New NYPD Commissioner

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mack

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Eric Adams picks Keechant Sewell as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD​

December 14, 2021 7:15pm
Mayor-elect Eric Adams has tapped Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD — a stunning, close-to-home pick from a field of seasoned top women cops across the country, The Post has learned.

“I’m here to meet the moment,” Sewell told The Post in an exclusive interview Tuesday, just a couple of weeks before she becomes the city’s 45th top cop.
At a time when the NYPD and the city its officers are sworn to protect are at a crossroads over a sharp rise in street violence and years of anti-cop reforms, her name will join the fabled ranks of change-minded New York police commissioners that stretch from Teddy Roosevelt in the 1890s to William Bratton in the 1990s.

“I’m very humbled to even be considered for this and it’s an extraordinary opportunity. And I take it very seriously, the historic nature of this,” she said.
Sewell will be the first woman to take charge of the department in its 176 years.

The surprise choice of the 49-year-old from Long Island — who has led just 351 uniformed officers for the past 15 months — was a “gut-choice” for Adams. Sources say he had favored her for months since the hunt began for the next leader of the largest police force in the country with more than 52,000 members.



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Incoming NYC Mayor Eric Adams has selected Keechant Sewell, 49, as the new NYPD Police Commissioner, photographed in Brooklyn on Dec. 14, 2021.

Adams, a former NYPD captain, has long said he would appoint a woman to the post and his team launched a nationwide search, interviewing dozens of female executives, including one-time Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, former Newark Chief Ivonne Roman, Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw and NYPD’s current chief of patrol, Juanita Holmes.

“Keechant Sewell is a proven crime fighter with the experience and emotional intelligence to deliver both the safety New Yorkers need and the justice they deserve,” Adams told The Post

“Chief Sewell will wake up every day laser-focused on keeping New Yorkers safe and improving our city, and I am thrilled to have her at the helm of the NYPD,” Adams said.

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Keechant Sewell is a 25-year veteran of the force and currently Nassau County Chief of Detectives. NCPD
Sewell, a Queens native who has 25 years on the job, will be just the third black police commissioner after Benjamin Ward, who served from 1984 to 1989 under former Mayor Ed Koch, and Lee Brown, Mayor David Dinkins’ first police chief, from 1990-92.

“I want to let them know that we are absolutely focused on violent crime. Violent crime is the No. 1 priority,” Sewell said.

She will replace Police Commissioner Dermot Shea, who was the third white male cop to run the department under outgoing Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The pick is a bit of a gamble for Adams that will tie his administration’s early success in combating the recent surge in gun violence and murders to a police executive who has quickly risen in the New York law enforcement community — but is comparatively inexperienced.
Adams is aware of the risk, but picked Sewell nonetheless.

“He’s going on his instinct as an officer for 22 years and being one of the chief critics of the NYPD,” a source close to the mayor-elect told The Post.
Adams was keen on the “emotional intelligence” Sewell showed during the grueling interview process that capped off with an hours-long mock press conference about the shooting of an apparently unarmed black man by a white police officer.

nypost.com

Eric Adams picks Keechant Sewell as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD

The pick is a bit of a gamble for Adams that will tie his administration’s early success in combating the recent surge in gun violence and murders to a police executive who is comparatively inexper…
nypost.com nypost.com
 
Best of luck to Commissioner Sewell.

This is a tough choice - going outside NYPD (largest in US) and outside NYC for a new police commissioner who has never led a police department, or any significantly large organization before, and has never even worked in NYC. 55, 000 NYPD employees and 36,000 uniformed officers is different than supervising 350 detectives in a county department. It will be a challenge to learn how to work with the other NYC departments, strong NYPD unions, NYC media, NYC politicians, world business organizations, state and federal agencies and almost 9 million New Yorkers - and also learn how to run a department with a budget of $6 billion dollars.

So much for the need for experience to satisfy policing critics, to address race issues, to manage COVID requirements, to run a huge organization effectively, to prevent an exodus of employees from moving outside NYC and - to combat violent crime. This will be a difficult challenge for Commissioner Sewell. Being able to demonstrate "emotional intelligence" in an interview process is totally different than credentials, demonstrated ability and real experience.

Selection of a non-NYPD candidate also sends a message from the Mayor-elect to his police officers about his confidence in his police department's internal leaders. No one in NYPD was more qualified than a LI county detective supervisor?

Was the goal to make a headline or to select the best candidate for maybe the most difficult law enforcement job in America? NYC is not the place to learn how to manage a police department.

It will be interesting to see who the next FDNY Fire Commissioner will be.
 
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Mack, sure it was a goal for headlines just as the inauguration will be at the King's Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in lieu of City Hall. Hang on to your hat because this is only the beginning.
 
Under Dermott Shea's watch, crime escalated. And he came from "within" the NYPD and personally I thought he was extremely qualified. However, I would consider his tenure as Police Commissioner a failure as crime continued to escalate while he ran the department. Unfortunately, he was a puppet of and at the beckon call of DeBlasio who is an extreme left wing ideologue. My assumption is Adams will take a tougher stance on crime & Keechant Sewell has an impressive resume who is apparantly highly regarded by her peers @ the NCPD. Give her a shot; things can't get much worse.
 
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NYPD Commissioners from outside the department in recent years:
Brown, Bratton and Safir
 
Bratton and Safir were king makers that vastly improved the NYPD, the last two commissioners O'Neill and Shea have been a flop. I think her background and the fact she is from a very respected Nassau County Police Department, plus the first woman, I think she may do well.
For fire commissioner, anybodys guess. Usually someone from an inner circle that gets the nod.
 
JohnnyGage said:
Bratton and Safir were king makers that vastly improved the NYPD, the last two commissioners O'Neill and Shea have been a flop. I think her background and the fact she is from a very respected Nassau County Police Department, plus the first woman, I think she may do well.
For fire commissioner, anybodys guess. Usually someone from an inner circle that gets the nod.
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O'Neill and Shea were unfortunately NYPD Commissioners under DeBlasio - so it is hard to compare their effectiveness to other Commissioners who served under more effective mayors. Bratton and Safir both had strong executive level leadership experience successfully running the Boston Police Department and as Assistant Director of the DEA.

Good luck to her. I hope she does well

Who should the new Mayor pick and who will the new Mayor pick to be the next FDNY Fire Commissioner? His choice may indicate how he will support the Department.
 
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New FC ..my bet ....if Male R.S.......if Female T.B. .....( but I have lost bet's before ).
 
Let's hope it is someone who is a qualified leader. Qualifications and experience.
 
memorymaster said:
Mack, sure it was a goal for headlines just as the inauguration will be at the King's Theatre in Flatbush, Brooklyn, in lieu of City Hall. Hang on to your hat because this is only the beginning.
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Two old sayings I remember the ole timers saying
"Out of the frying pan and into da fire"
"Only time will tell"
My two cents, this is a huge jump from her old job and the city right now is in spiral thanks to the liberal politicians but read the prior two lines.
 
It's hard to imagine what he's thinking with appointments like this! I think this quote from the article “We’re going into disasters, not a courthouse” sums it up pretty well.
 
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