Mayor-elect Eric Adams is expected to appoint Keechant Sewell as the next NYPD commissioner after the current head of the police department retires at the end of the year, multiple sources tell News 4 New York. That means Danielle Outlaw, who was also a candidate for the position, will remain Philadelphia's commissioner.
Sewell would become the first Black woman to hold the post of NYPD's top cop. She currently serves as the Nassau County chief of detectives. An Adams spokesman declined to comment.
Sewell, originally from Queens, is a 22-year police veteran in Nassau County and is well-liked in her department. Sewell she has held done numerous leadership posts ranging from heading major cases to hostage negotiation.
She very much impressed Adams during their meetings, sources told NBC New York. Sewell beat out several candidates, including former Seattle top cop Carmen Best, who said in a statement that she was "honored to have been a finalist and will remain focused on charting the future of public safety," before congratulating Sewell.
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The Police Benevolent Association said that they "welcome Chief Sewell to the second-toughest policing job in America. The toughest of course, is being an NYPD cop on the street." The statement went on to say that officers have "passed our breaking point. We need to fix that break in order to get our police department and our city back on course. We look forward to working with her to accomplish that goal."
The announcement is expected to come Wednesday morning around 8:30 a.m. in Queens.
The news of the historic appointment comes after it was revealed current NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea and the department's second in command, First Deputy Commissioner Benjamin Tucker, will finish their full terms and retire at the end of the year.
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"Police Commissioner Shea and First Deputy Commissioner Tucker will have a lot more to say in the coming weeks as they discuss their public service and gratitude to the City and the men and women of the Department," an NYPD spokesperson confirmed Dec. 2.
Administratively, the police commissioner is required to give 30-days notice.
With both Shea and Tucker stepping down in the future, Adams, himself a retired NYPD captain, was tasked with finding replacements.
Shea took over as head of the NYPD in 2019 as the successor to Commissioner James O’Neill -- and led the largest, and one of the oldest, police forces in the United States.
"Born and raised in Sunnyside, Dermot Shea is a New Yorker through and through. A 28-year veteran, he knows what it's like to walk a beat and lead a precinct. He helped build the strategies that have driven crime to record lows. He’s a proven change agent," Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted the day he announced he had chosen Shea as O'Neill's replacement.
"As Commissioner, Chief Shea will focus on putting 21st century precision policing to work in order to deepen police-community bonds and end the scourge of gun and gang violence."
Prior to his role as commissioner, Shea, a 28-year veteran of the NYPD, was promoted to Chief of Detectives on April 16, 2018.
Before serving as Chief of Detectives, Shea served as Chief of Crime Control Strategies. He also spent more than 4 years as Deputy Commissioner of Operations.
While serving as Chief of Crime Control Strategies, he was responsible for analyzing citywide crime trends and developing the department’s crime-control plans and procedures.
Shea also served as Executive Officer of the 47th Precinct and Detective Borough Manhattan South, and worked in the 24th, 46th, and 52nd Precincts, as well as the Narcotics Division.
Shea took over at a time when there was a spike in possible hate crimes, increase in homelessness and officer morale was at a low. (Prior to his retirement, O'Neill was blasted by Police Benevolent Association President Pat Lynch for firing Daniel Pantaleo, the NYPD officer accused of using a banned chokehold that led to Eric Garner's death in 2014.) He went on to face an increase in gun violence in the city and other forms of crimes during the height of the pandemic, including in the subways.
Meanwhile, Tucker began his career with the New York City Police Department in 1969 as a Police Trainee and received specialized training from medical and substance abuse experts to participate in the first NYPD sponsored school-based drug prevention education program.
Eventually, Tucker became a police officer in 1972 and was promoted to sergeant in 1987.
Tucker had a number of roles during his decades long career with the NYPD, according to his City biography, including police academy instructor, legal advisor in the Office of the Deputy Commissioner of Legal Matters; and Assistant Director of the Civilian Complaint Review Board.
Tucker also served as Deputy Assistant Director for Law Enforcement Services in the Mayor's Office of Operations, and First Deputy Commissioner and Executive Director of the Commission on Human Rights under Mayor Edward I. Koch. He was also Chief of Operations in the Office of the Manhattan Borough President. During the Bloomberg administration, Tucker also served as Chief Executive for School Safety and Planning for the Department of Education.
In 1995, then President Bill Clinton appointed Tucker Deputy Director for Operations in the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services at the United States Department of Justice. Then, in 2009, Tucker was nominated by then President Barack Obama, and confirmed by the United States Senate, as the Deputy Director for State, Local and Tribal Affairs within the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.
Additionally, Tucker also directed research projects at the Substance Abuse Strategy Initiative at New York University and the Center on Addiction and Substance Abuse at Columbia University.
