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. 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.
Sewell will be the first woman to take charge of the department in its 176 years.
And I take it very seriously, the historic nature of this,” she said. “I’m very humbled to even be considered for this and it’s an extraordinary opportunity. “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.Īt 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 stretching from Teddy Roosevelt in the 1890s to William Bratton in the 1990s. 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. Second-highest-ranking NYPD official once involved in cheating scandal, disciplinary records reveal Mayor Adams says he tours subways ‘every other night’ NYPD Commissioner Sewell taps former Nassau co-workers for high-ranking jobsĪdams: I need all New Yorkers to help me fight crime