Departing NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell remains mum about her abrupt resignation, but she’s rather voluble about her historic appointment just a year-and-a-half ago. At a pre-Juneteenth presser just days after her announcement, she thanked Mayor Eric Adams for taking a chance on her, with wide smiles on stage despite the prevalent speculation of his role in her stepping down.
“Look where we are,” said Sewell. “It takes a man of history, tradition, [and] values to believe that he can put me in this position after 176 years of people not looking like me in this position. I cannot thank the mayor enough for giving me this extraordinary opportunity.”
Professionalism or a genuine absence of bad blood? The facts remain that Sewell is the first woman and third Black person sworn in as the top cop of the country’s largest police force, earning the distinction on January 1, 2022, when Adams took office. She suddenly stepped down last Monday, June 12.
The Black Law Enforcement Alliance’s Marq Claxton said it’s important to acknowledge the historical importance of Sewell heading the NYPD. He added that she faced additional challenges as an outsider from the neighboring Nassau County Police Department.
“It is the premier law enforcement agency in the country…so there’s always a tough [and] challenging transition to head the NYPD,” said Claxton. “I think she navigated quite well. Challenges for anyone who comes as an outsider into the NYPD to be the commissioner [include knowing] who is around you, who the key personnel are, and what level of authority you have. You have to quickly decipher and put together trusted advisors. And hopefully [they] will be well respected [and] knowledgeable, and lead you in a proper way.
“But there’s no getting around [it]—when you’re an outsider and you come into the NYPD, you’re going to have a difficult and tough transition to the top of the helm.”
Under Sewell, the NYPD saw marked decreases in shootings and homicides, which disproportionately affect Black and brown New Yorkers—both as victims and suspects. But general index crime numbers rose, spurred by upticks in property-related felonies like grand larceny and burglary citywide, driving public safety concerns, especially in neighborhoods where gun violence is rare or non-existent.
Last September, a block association in Greenwich Village, which encompasses a precinct where no shootings or homicides occurred this year, hired its own armed security guards. Misdemeanor arrests, which often tell the full story of the city’s public safety, are not tallied in the NYPD’s presentation of city-wide crime stats and instead are delineated in the lesser-employed summons data.
Just in January, Sewell delineated her plan for the NYPD’s 2023 “Step Forward” initiative, which aimed to increase department diversity, mental health resources, and community engagement.
Most officials, even those who didn’t see eye-to-eye with the commissioner, acknowledged her unprecedented appointment and handling of subsequent challenges she inherited.
“Commissioner Sewell broke barriers as the first woman, and first Black woman, to lead the largest police force in the country,” said City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams. “I empathize with the unique challenges she faced that are so familiar to many of us in positions that have not traditionally been held by those who look like us. Despite differences about NYPD disciplinary policies, we shared a bond and mutual respect as professionals.”
“From remarkable drops in overall crime to improving police and community relations, we are forever grateful for Commissioner Sewell’s service to our city,” said Bronx Borough President Vanessa Gibson.
But for critics, shattering the glass ceiling is just another version of broken windows policing. Just days before her resignation, Sewell contested the number of unlawful NYPD stops recently reported by the federal monitor assigned from the Floyd stop-and-frisk litigation. The findings said New Yorkers stopped are overwhelmingly Black and almost a quarter of encounters are still unconstitutional.
In a statement, Public Advocate Jumaane Williams said while inspiring, Sewell’s appointment was not a “panacea” for toxic police culture, although he said his criticisms were more indicative of the “pervasiveness of these problems than her leadership.”
“I hope that the next person to take this role is ready to be a true partner in public safety, who recognizes the role police play without inflating it, and is willing to sincerely adopt greater transparency and meaningful accountability,” said Williams. “Unless there is real commitment to building new systems, rather than reviving failed ones, the next commissioner will be bound by the prevailing and repeated patterns of unnecessary tension around public safety, violence, and how law enforcement is used.”
In a statement, Brooklyn Movement Center Executive Director Anthonine Pierre also questioned the latitude Sewell was afforded as commissioner, especially when recommending discipline for high-ranking members like Chief Jeffrey Maddrey, when he reportedly intervened in the arrest of an ex-NYPD colleague for allegedly menacing a trio of Black teenagers with a gun.
“Commissioner Sewell’s historic appointment and recent resignation following disciplinary action against Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey painfully exposes Mayor Adams’s disregard for NYPD accountability,” Pierre said. “Sewell’s once-celebrated leadership was marginalized by City Hall precisely when she addressed Maddrey’s abuse of power within the department. This exit speaks to a value of tokenized leadership over public policies that deliver safety and dignity for Black and brown communities harmed by police violence.
“Regardless of who is at the helm of the NYPD, leadership alone cannot be the answer to systemic abuse and a bloated budget that siphons funding from life-affirming resources in other city agencies.”
Sewell’s reticence is consistent with her time as commissioner, rarely speaking to the press compared to her predecessor Dermot Shea. As a result, theories are circulating about why she quit and snippets of what she has said are now the best understanding the public has of her tenure. A little-publicized speech last year at an NYPD Policewomen’s Endowment Association event saw her addressing a hypothetical “second female police commissioner,” vaguely bringing up sexist comments and personal challenges. While this speech is now being hyper-examined due to Sewell’s resignation, there is no evidence the events she mentioned are tied to her time in the NYPD, much less what led to her stepping down.
Speaking of speculation, what does life after the NYPD look like for Sewell? There are other careers in law enforcement. Regardless of what’s next for Sewell, Claxton is pretty sure it’ll be a sweet gig.
“They’ve done extremely well, those police commissioners [and] high-level executives in the NYPD—they go on to bright, brilliant, [and] well-paid second careers,” he said. “People choose the private sector because they realize that there’s a lot more money to be made and they can take this skill set, [which] transfers over quite well…[or] you can actually manage any police department in the nation. If that’s your will [or] desire and there are openings, you have a leg up on other people who are applying for those same positions.
“But you may be overqualified for most of the positions that are open. But at least you have the skill set and you now have the résumé where you can manage to head any law enforcement department in the United States.”
I believe she was being micromanaged by Adams Maybe he was intimidated by the fact that she was getting recognition as a positive force
I don’t any accomplishments made by this Mayor or the commissioner he choose to rum the department. This Mayor should not be re-elected