After 176 years, NYPD gets female leader

| December 15, 2021

A woman is to serve as commissioner of New York City’s police department for the first time in its 176-year history, local media reports.

New York mayor-elect Eric Adams, himself a former NYPD captain, will introduce Keechant Sewell at a news conference on Wednesday, New York’s Daily News reported.

“Keechant Sewell is a proven crime fighter with the experience and emotional intelligence to deliver both the safety New Yorkers need and the justice they deserve,” Adams said in a statement published by the newspaper.

The New York Times reported Sewell is a 23-year veteran of the police department in Nassau County, New York, where she is chief of detectives. 

She will be New York City’s third black police commissioner.

The current commissioner, Dermot Shea, was appointed in 2019 by Mayor Bill de Blasio.

“We welcome Chief Sewell to the second-toughest policing job in America,” Patrick Lynch, president of the city’s major police union, said in a written statement. 

“The toughest, of course, is being an NYPD cop on the street.”