New York City Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the first woman to lead the country’s largest police force, is resigning.
(Bloomberg) — New York City Police Department Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the first woman to lead the country’s largest police force, is resigning.
Sewell, 51, was the Nassau County chief of detectives in December 2021 when then-Mayor-Elect Eric Adams chose her after pledging during his campaign to name a Black woman to head the department. The NYPD has 36,000 uniformed officers.
“I want to thank Police Commissioner Sewell for her devotion over the last 18 months and her steadfast leadership,” Adams said in a statement Monday. “Her efforts played a leading role in this administration’s tireless work to make New York City safer.”
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Questions have swirled for months about whether Sewell’s authority was being undermined by Adams. He appointed Philip Banks III as deputy mayor for public safety, creating what was effectively another senior-level layer of supervision over the city’s law enforcement agencies.
The NYPD didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
(Adds quote from Adams in the third paragraph)
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