NEW YORK — When Mayor Adams announced Nov. 29 that police would carry out a new city policy of removing mentally ill people from the streets into shelters, a city official who’d have a big role carrying out the plan — NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell — wasn’t with the mayor to talk about it.
That absence was in line with her low-key presence, insiders say — she focuses on the tasks at hand. But some critics say she’d do better by making herself more visible.
The city’s first female police commissioner has revealed little about herself to the city, has given few interviews and has not in several months had a press conference in which she entertained questions not related to the topic at hand.
Her supporters say she wants to work — not publicize herself — and even in a year of soaring crime in the subways and continued increases in robberies and assaults, she has overseen a 13% drop in murders and a 18% decrease in shootings.
“She talked again and again about guns,” said one police official. “She formed a new unit focused on guns, and the murders and shootings have gone down.
“She’s not looking for publicity — she’s all about doing the job.”
Sewell was born in Harlem and lived a few years as a child at the Queensbridge Houses, the city’s biggest NYCHA development.
When Adams a year ago poached Sewell from the Nassau County Police Department, where she was chief of detectives, he praised her “emotional intelligence,” noting that in a mock press conference that was part of the interview process she expressed empathy for the family of an unarmed black man shot by a white cop.
It wasn’t an aberration.
When discussing the need to modify the state’s controversial bail laws, Sewell repeatedly has pointed out that the rights of crime victims matter as much as the rights of those the new laws were designed to help.
And she won over much of the rank and file the night of Jan. 21, when a domestic violence suspect fatally shot two cops in Harlem — Officer Jason Rivera, who died a short time later, and Officer Wilbert Mora, who died several days later.
In an emotional speech at Harlem Hospital, Sewell stood before scores of reporters and more than 100 cops and lamented the war at hand — “It is our city against the killers,” she said — and the “beyond comprehension” pain inflicted on the city.
“Our department is hurting,” she added. “Our city is hurting. It is beyond comprehension.”
Her words are sincere, according to Police Benevolent Association head Patrick Lynch, who said Sewell has repeatedly proved she doesn’t just pay lip service to the unions’ major concerns, which include a soaring attrition rate, a demoralized force and an increased workload.
“In the past, NYPD leadership treated engagement with the union as just another box to check,” Lynch said in a statement.
“We would sit down to talk, but they weren’t really listening. As a result, we have a Police Department in a near-constant state of crisis. Cops on the street are well past their breaking point. They are quitting at rates we haven’t seen in 20 years, and those who remain are being crushed by the increasing workload.
“Commissioner Sewell acknowledges these challenges, instead of trying to downplay them or explain them away. That alone is refreshing. But she goes further than that — she speaks up and explains to the public what police officers are going through.”
Sewell, who declined an interview for this story, works with a mayor and a top mayoral aide who have intimate knowledge of the police department.
Adams is a retired NYPD captain and his top public safety adviser, Deputy Mayor Phillip Banks, is a former NYPD chief of department. Insiders say Banks has played a significant role in key NYPD personnel decisions and has met numerous times with NYPD supervisors without Sewell present.
Some close to her say Sewell has grown increasingly annoyed at City Hall’s influence, but others say she was fully aware how an Adams administration would play out and that it doesn’t bother her.
“The mayor’s the boss,” said one police official. “That’s always been the case. She knows that, and she knows Banks’ job is to have all parts of the criminal justice (teams) working together. She deals with Banks extremely well, if you ask me.”
In a rare public comment, Sewell hinted she has the leeway she needs to do her job effectively. “Ultimately, it’s my plans that we implement,” she said of the mayor in a recent television interview. “I welcome his input, and I welcome his experience.”
Richard Aborn, head of Citizens Crime Commission, said what matters most is fighting crime.
Sewell, he said, now needs to duplicate the NYPD’s success tamping down murders and shootings in 2022 and apply it to other crimes. Robberies, typically an indication of where violent crime is trending, are up 27% this year, and subway crime is up 29%.
Aborn also said Sewell needs to shed her low-key persona and make herself more visible to New Yorkers.
“The two most important public figures in the city are the mayor and the police commissioner,” Aborn said. “I think her presence would serve the city well.”
But Jillian Snider, a retired NYPD officer who teaches at John Jay College of Criminal Justice, said Sewell has struck the right tone — acclimating herself to having two former cops at City Hall yet maintaining her own voice.
Snider pointed out that when Adams in recent months publiclycomplained less about bail reform — some observers speculated he did so to help his ally Gov. Hochul get elected — Sewell did not follow suit. She instead argued the Legislature needs to give judges more discretion “to detain dangerous and recidivist criminals before trial.”
“She didn’t stay silent on the issue,” Snider said. “It was a good spot for Commissioner Sewell to stand her ground. I’m proud of her. I see her as an assertive woman, but also respectful of her appointment. You can’t sacrifice the department to make the political figures happy, nor vice versa.
“She’s a woman, and she’s not going to be told what to do by a man — but she is going to listen to them and she is going to take their advice into consideration.”
