City Hall bad-mouths NYPD head Keechant Sewell over resignation as they go into 'cult mode': sources
Blind-sided and fuming City Hall officials are bad-mouthing NYPD Commish Keechant Sewell over her abrupt quitting of the top post as part of their “cult mode” to defend Hizzoner, sources told The Post on Tuesday.
Stung by Sewell’s sudden announcement Monday that she is leaving, Mayor Eric Adams’ aides are furiously pegging the outgoing commissioner as selfish for blindsiding the administration, sources said.
“She was always all about herself,” a staffer snipped, according to sources. “She knew what she was getting into.”
Another source said, “There was clearly some hostility” at City Hall after Sewell turned in her resignation.
“Those guys go into their cult mode,” the source said of Adams’ supporters when faced with opposition.
Sewell, 51, stunned the mayor when she emailed department brass Monday to announce she was stepping down after 18 months as the city’s top cop — and the first woman to hold the post.
“I showed her love,” Adams said when pressed by reporters Tuesday about why his top cop is leaving. “I adored what the commissioner was doing.
“The rest of you should ask, ‘What role did you play?’ ” he said grumpily.
Mayor Eric Adams was reportedly blindsided by NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell’s resignation — and his aides are now said to be in “cult mode,” badmouthing the top cop behind closed doors as they scramble to deal with her departure. MediaPunch / BACKGRID
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced her resignation Monday after 18 months as the city’s top cop and the first woman to hold the post. City Hall officials, who were reportedly caught off guard, are scrambling to deal with it. Andrew Schwartz / SplashNews.com
Sewell, a Queens native, is stepping down as of June 30, Adams said.
Hours after Monday’s bombshell announcement, top administration and police aides huddled late into the night to figure out who will run the department in the short- and long-term, the sources said.
They said rumors that Sewell would quit began to circulate as early as March.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell's sudden resignation Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell abruptly announced Monday that she was stepping down after nearly a year and a half as the first woman at the helm of the NYPD. Then-Mayor-elect Eric Adams tapped the Nassau County chief of detectives as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD in December 2021. Sources at the time said Adams had long had his eye on Sewell for commissioner after saying he wanted a woman to lead the department. Sewell, a Queens native, was just the third black police commissioner after Benjamin Ward, who served from 1984 to 1989 under Mayor Ed Koch, and Lee Brown, Mayor David Dinkins’ first police chief, from 1990 to 1992. She did not provide a reason for her departure, and it was not immediately clear who would be taking over to lead the largest police force in the country. Sewell’s relationship with City Hall had seemed to sour in recent months, with the commissioner finding herself increasingly handcuffed when trying to make key department decisions, The Post reported.
“I knew that she was not there for the long haul for months already,” a former City Hall operative said Tuesday. “You know, when you want to leave and you look for triggers to validate your decision.
“I think that she’s always felt like [Deputy Mayor Phililp] Banks and company did not have her back,” the operative said. “The difference, I think, is she started to feel like the mayor wasn’t with her.”
While Sewell’s deputy commissioner, Edward Caban, would be next in line on an interim basis, Banks, NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey and top mayoral aide Timothy Pearson have all been rumored as possible replacements for the top police post — as sources said Adams isn’t keen on going outside the department again.
Top city cop Keechant Sewell (center, with Mayor Eric Adams) was the first woman to hold the post when she was sworn in Jan. 1, 2022. Sources said she struggled with Adams’ hands-on control of the department. MediaPunch / BACKGRID
Juanita Holmes, a controversial NYPD training chief who was named as city probation commissioner in March — and once considered a candidate to replace former Police Commissioner Dermot Shea instead of Sewell — has also surfaced as a longshot contender, the sources said.
Sewell, who took over as the city’s 45th police commissioner Jan. 1, 2022, was handcuffed by Adams’ hands-on management style, according to sources.
Unlike past top cops, she didn’t have sole authority to pick brass to fill vital positions and had her bids to promote aides in her office nixed by City Hall, the sources said.
But despite the internal NYPD turmoil, Sewell gained the respect of the department’s rank and file — and several city pols — after overseeing a drop in citywide shootings during her first year at the helm.
“Commissioner Sewell broke barriers as the first woman, and first black woman, to lead the largest police force in the country,” City Council Speaker Adrienne Adams said in a statement.
NYPD Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey (right) is among those named by sources as possible successors to outgoing Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell (left). Sewell and Maddrey have been adversaries at the NYPD. MediaPunch / BACKGRID
“I empathize with the unique challenges she faced that are so familiar to many of us in positions that have not traditionally been held by those who look like us,” she said. “Despite differences about NYPD disciplinary policies, we shared a bond and mutual respect as professionals.”
Sewell has not commented on her decision to resign, and rumors on her next job range wildly from taking over the New York State Police Department to joining the Biden administration.
“She’s a serious woman, serious police commander, she walked into a mess and did a good job,” said longtime political consultant Hank Sheinkopf. “You always get departures after the first year and a half.
“He has to get this house in order quickly,” Sheinkopf said of the mayor. “The public doesn’t care if there are outcomes that make sense to the public. Do they feel safer? Do they feel the streets are cleaner? They don’t care about the rest. At this moment, he’s got to make it appear he’s in charge.”
Additional reporting by Joe Marino and Craig McCarthy
Source: New York Post
