"
She's smashed every glass ceiling in her path
," said Eric Adams, the future New York mayor after nominating Keechant Sewell to the highly sensitive post of New York City Police Chief.
No woman has ever been the head of the New York police force in 176 years of existence.
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The appointment of Nassau County's chief detective was considered one of the most important decisions for Eric Adams, the new mayor of New York, elected on November 3.
“
Keechant Sewell is an accomplished crime fighter who has the experience and emotional intelligence to provide the safety New Yorkers need and provide them the justice they deserve,
” said Eric Adams, himself. a former policeman, saying he was "
very happy to have him
" in this post.
Maintain security
Heading around 35,000 police officers in the largest city in the United States (nearly 9 million people), Keechant Sewell, 49, will be tasked with maintaining security in New York City as the coronavirus pandemic sets in. was accompanied by an outbreak of crime in 2020. All this while restoring the confidence of the population in its police, accused of having in its ranks violent, racist and corrupt agents.
Security had been one of the main issues of the campaign for mayor of New York.
“
Welcome Chief Sewell to the second toughest police job in America.
The first, of course, being that of being an NYPD police officer in the street,
”greeted the boss of the city's first police union (PBA), Patrick Lynch.
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Keechant Sewell is currently the chief investigator in Nassau County, east of New York City. According to the
New York Times
, she has worked in the police force for 23 years where she served in different units: narcotics, priority investigations, and was a negotiator during hostage-taking. Impressed by the confidence and experience of Keechant Sewell, the choice of Eric Adams finally fell on the policewoman from the district of Queens after a rigorous selection process. To be named, one of the tests was for example to simulate a press conference after the shooting of an unarmed black man by a white police officer, reported a relative of the mayor in the
New York Times
.
The first woman to lead NYPD, she will be the third black person in the post, while Democrat Eric Adams will be the second black mayor in the history of the US megalopolis on the East Coast.
Both will take up their duties on January 1, 2022.