By: Don Driggers
Keechant Sewell’s first year on the job as NYPD commissioner was book-ended by attacks on cops when an alleged Islamic extremist came at officers with a machete just blocks from Times Square on New Year’s Eve, leaving three injured.
Tragedy has the touched the NYPD in Harlem when the fatal shooting of two police officers in a ambush left the force without two heroes.
Sewell offered a statement in regard to the Harlem shooting. “As evidenced last night, there are significant dangers in this profession,” Sewell said in a message to the city’s Finest on New Year’s Day.
“Be it your first day, or any other, you face the challenges and malevolent forces across this city head on, to prevent the victimization of others. This is the legacy of the NYPD. I am honored to serve with each of you and am truly grateful that our officers will recover.”
Mayor Adams was quick to praise Sewell when she was hired saying, according to The New York Post, that she has “high emotional-intelligence”.
While the Big Apple has seen a dip in murders in 2022, the NYPD has struggled to stem soaring crime — including major felonies such as robberies and assaults — and grappled with a spate of heinous, high-profile subway attacks reports The New York Post.
Mayor Adams credits his Neighborhood Safety Team program with getting officers out from behind desks and onto the streets meeting and talking with the people they protect.
The New York Post reports that Sewell has taken a back seat to the mayor, who has been front-and-center at most large public safety announcements, most notably when Adams unveiled the Neighborhood Safety Teams, and his mental health plan for homelessness.
Police sources said the commissioner even went off the grid ahead of one press conference she had been slated to attend this year, forcing her first deputy to step in at the last minute.
Sewell has appeared at just as many breaking news events as her immediate predecessor Dermot Shea during each of their first year on the job.
When talking to officers, The New York Post reports that they have high regard for their chief. “She seems more genuine than her predecessor and diversifying the executives by replacing the old mentality chiefs that can’t adapt to the changes in time,” a police source said.
Another police officer, with more than 20 years on the job, said the commissioner seemed to be making improvements in the department.
Not all spoken to by the Post had a positive outlook.
The Post reported because others believe little has changed, with surging overtime and favoritism continuing to go unchecked in the new administration.
“Not many teeth there in her administration,” a police source said. Another source griped the mayor is at fault.
“He promised too much, and he can’t deliver… ask any cop.”
Sewell was raised in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, including at the Queensbridge Houses. She later lived in the Queens neighborhoods of Corona and Jamaica.
In October 1997, Sewell became a police officer assigned to Nassau County Police Department’s Fifth Precinct. Sewell was eventually promoted through the ranks to become the commanding officer of the 7th Precinct and then, by 2016, commanding officer of the major case squad.
In 2008 Sewell had attended the FBI National Academy, and other assignments included the Professional Standards Bureau, Internal Affairs, and training with the FBI to be the county’s chief hostage negotiator. On September 24, 2020, Sewell was promoted to NCPD’s chief of detectives, commanding a staff of approximately 350 officers
