Guessing Game Underway To See Who Will Replace Top Cop Sewell After Abrupt Resignation

In a wholly unanticipated move that shook the city government and pundits alike, NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has resigned her post, with her last day on June 30th.

Now it is anyone’s guess as to what will happen next and who Mayor Eric Adams will pick to replace her--not to mention what the real reason was for her abrupt decision to step down, announced only weeks before her last day.

In the week before the 30th, the New York Post reported that first deputy commissioner Edward Caban and Department of Sanitation head Jessica Tisch were on the replacement short list. Caban is the department’s second-highest ranking member. If he’s picked, he’d be the first Latino to serve as NYPD’s top cop.

In a statement emailed to the rank-and-file announcing her decision after a year-and-a-half on the job, Sewell said only that “while my time here will come to a close, I will never step away from my advocacy and support for the NYPD, and I will always be a champion for the people of New York City.”

“I have witnessed your compassion, heroics and selflessness on a daily basis. They have reaffirmed to me, what people around the globe have always known: you are an extraordinary collective of hard working public servants dedicated to the safety of this city, engaging our communities and sharing what we know with our partners for the benefit of the world,” she added.

She also hailed what she believed were workplace advances under her tenure, ranging from updated overtime and self-discretionary promotion portals to professional development programs.

The resignation came hot on the heels of more Post reporting from June 10th indicating that Sewell did not maintain control over promotion practices at the department–and that those decisions were instead routed through City Hall, an unusual departure from past practices.

Mayor Eric Adams seemed to confirm that this arrangement was more than possible at a press conference on Monday, June 12th, saying that “Let’s be clear on one thing, because this is so important, the people of the City of New York elected one Mayor, Eric Adams. That’s who they elected. Every agency in the city comes to me with a proposed leadership.” After Sewell formally resigned later that day, he put out a statement that praised her diligence and claimed that “New Yorkers owe her a debt of gratitude.”

Sewell’s departure also comes in the midst of a scandal that has engulfed the department after she denied ten vacation days to Jeffrey Maddrey, the highest ranked uniformed officer on the force. The discipline was meted out after Maddrey was flagged in a report by the Civilian Complaint Review Board, after he had attempted in 2021 to vacate the arrest of a retired officer that used to work with him. The formal complaint by the civilian watchdog agency said that “Chief Maddrey improperly influenced an arrest.” The retired precinct captain, Kruythoff Forrester, had chased three teenagers with his gun out after one of the teens hit a security camera on his home with a basketball.

Maddrey plans to contest the charges in a department trial that will be prosecuted by the Civilian Compliant Review Board. Mayor Adams, while also signaling his support for the now-retired commissioner’s judgement on the matter, has notably defended Maddrey.

Keechant Sewell was the first Black woman to hold the position of NYPD Commissioner.

After spiking last year, reported incidents for most major crime categories are down this year, with the exception of grand theft auto and felonious assaults, which are up 17.6 percent and 6.2 percent respectively. All other major categories are down this year, including murders (down 12.5 percent), rape (down 9.4 percent), robbery (down 4.3 percent), and burglary (down 8.8 percent).