NEW YORK – Mayor-elect Eric Adams on Wednesday named Keechant Sewell the next NYPD commissioner, making her the first black woman to lead the nation’s largest police department.
After current police department chief Dermot Shea retires at the end of the year, Sewell will oversee New York City’s 35,000 officers, a police force roughly a thousand times larger than his previous position on Long Island, where he will She served as Nassau County Chief of Detectives since September 2020.
“She not only brings a diverse set of experiences to this moment, but also the emotional intelligence necessary to lead in this challenging but hopeful time in our city,” Adams said in a video posted online early Wednesday.
Sewell beat out several candidates, including former Seattle police officer Carmen Best, who said in a statement that she was “honored to be a finalist and will continue to focus on charting the future of public safety,” before congratulating Sewell.
Sewell, a 22-year police veteran in Nassau County, is beloved in her department, sources said. Previously, he held numerous leadership positions ranging from leading major cases to negotiating hostages.
Adams, a former NYPD captain, had long promised to hire a woman as a commissioner. Other candidates on her short list included Philadelphia Commissioner Danielle Outlaw, former Newark Chief Ivonne Roman, and New York Police Patrol Chief Juanita Holmes.
“The mayor was very comfortable with Sewell, and that’s really the best way to do it,” said former New York State Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Balboni, who is familiar with the Adams and Sewell records in Nassau. “She’s pretty apolitical. She does her job. She leads her detective team and she’s mission-focused.”
Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, who has often openly criticized incumbent Mayor Bill de Blasio and his handling of the police force, welcomed Sewell on Tuesday “the second-toughest police job in America.”
“The hardest thing, of course, is being a NYPD on the street,” Lynch said. Her statement went on to say that officers “passed our breaking point. We need to fix that break so that our police department and our city can get back on track. We look forward to working with her to achieve that goal.”
Sewell will begin his new job when Adams takes office on January 1.
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