NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A nationwide seek for the NYPD‘s subsequent high cop ends proper right here in New York.
Mayor-elect Eric Adams is predicted to announce Wednesday that he’s chosen a lady to guide the NYPD for the primary time within the division’s historical past.
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She is Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell, who grew up in Queens and lived in public housing.
The day after the election, Adams advised CBS2 political reporter Marcia Kramer the primary high quality he was on the lookout for in a police commissioner.
“The following commissioner should be actually emotionally clever and have the empathy and compassion. Not solely ought to they’ve worn a gun belt, but when they didn’t, they need to perceive that we have to enhance morale,” Adams mentioned.
Adams thinks he discovered that particular person in Sewell, who’s going from operating the 351-member Nassau County detective squad to operating the NYPD with 35,000 uniformed officers and 18,000 civilians.
Sewell, sources inform CBS2, impressed Adams in the course of the powerful interview course of that included a mock press convention in regards to the taking pictures of an apparently unarmed Black man by a white police officer. She projected a peaceful confidence that impressed Adams, a former police captain.
“Keechant Sewell is a confirmed crime fighter with the expertise and emotional intelligence to ship each the protection New Yorkers want and the justice they deserve,” Adams mentioned in an announcement.
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Sources say Sewell, who would be the forty fifth commissioner and the primary lady, will report on to Adams, who has made restoring public security his high precedence.
He has already pledged to deliver again the undercover plain garments unit that was disbanded by present police commissioner Dermot Shea in the course of the Black Lives Matter protests. He additionally says he needs to deliver again beat cops.
Sewell may have a troublesome job. The newest crime stats present general index crime elevated by 21% in November 2021 in comparison with the earlier 12 months.
Theft elevated 24%, felony assault elevated 11%, transit crime rose 106% and hate crimes had been up 97%.
Sewell obtained a welcome to the neighborhood from Police Benevolent Affiliation President Patrick Lynch, saying she was taking on the “second hardest policing job in America.” The hardest, he mentioned, “is being a NYPD cop on the road.”
Adams will introduce his new commissioner the place she grew up, the Queensbridge Homes in Lengthy Island Metropolis.
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We can be streaming the announcement stay on CBSN New York starting at 8:15 a.m. Wednesday.