Keechant Sewell to become first woman to serve as NYPD commissioner

NEW YORK - A Long Island police official will be New York City's next police commissioner, the first woman to lead the nation's largest police force.

Nassau County Police Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell, 49, will replace Dermot Shea, who is retiring from the NYPD after 30 years, the last two as commissioner. She'll begin when Mayor-elect Eric Adams takes office Jan. 1, 2022.

After being introduced by Adams Wednesday, Sewell addressed the media from the housing project in Queens where she lived as a young child.

"Queensbridge Houses is part of my story," said Sewell. "I wish my parents were here to point out the building and apartment where they began to give me a strong sense of purpose, commitment, and confidence. To all the little girls within the sound of my voice, there is nothing you can't do and no one you can't become."

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Adams, a former NYPD captain, promised to hire a woman as commissioner. Other candidates included former Seattle Chief Carmen Best, Philadelphia Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, former Newark chief Ivonne Roman and NYPD Chief of Patrol Juanita Holmes.

Sewell will be just the third Black person to run the NYPD after Benjamin Ward and Lee Brown, who served in the 1980s and 1990s. She will inherit a police department in flux. The NYPD has struggled to keep crime down a few years after achieving record lows.

The rise, particularly in shootings and killings, is part of a national trend in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, but police officials have also blamed state reforms that eliminated pretrial detention for many charges. There is little evidence that the reforms have resulted in more crime.

Adams, the cofounder of 100 Blacks in Law Enforcement Who Care, an advocacy group that sought criminal justice reform and spoke out against police brutality, has pledged new strategies to fight crime, including the return of foot patrols.

The Post reported that Sewell impressed Adams early in his search for a police commissioner, describing her selection as a "gut choice."

Sewell was named Nassau's Chief of Detectives in September 2020 overseeing a staff of about 350 people. The NYPD has about 35,000 officers.

"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 told the Post.

With the Associated Press