New York City Mayor-elect Eric Adams said Wednesday he will appoint Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell as the city’s next police commissioner, making her the first woman to serve in the role.
Mr. Adams cited the 49-year-old’s birth in Queens, experience in the FBI and 22-year career in the Long Island county east of the city. Chief Sewell worked on major cases, served undercover on narcotics teams and negotiated hostage situations.
“She not only brings a diverse set of experiences to this moment but the emotional intelligence needed to lead at this challenging yet hopeful time in this city,” Mr. Adams said in a video message.
Mr. Adams, himself a former police captain, won in a crowded Democratic primary earlier this year by resisting calls to defund the police while demanding professionalism from those who wear the badge.
The city saw a crime surge in the last two years. But Mr. Adams praised the police department’s efforts to lift the city out of the dark days when the yearly homicide count reached 2,000, its bravery on Sept. 11, 2001, and “the everyday acts of kindness and charity that too often go uncelebrated.”
“This is a department that exhibits public service at its best,” he said.
The New York Times reported that Mr. Adams was impressed by Chief Sewell’s confidence and poise during the interview process, which included a mock news conference about the shooting of an unarmed Black man by a White officer.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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