TAKING HER LEAVE

NYPD’s First Female Commissioner Is Out After Just 18 Months

“I will never step away from my advocacy and support for the N.Y.P.D.,” she wrote in an email to the department.

The New York Police Department’s first female leader is stepping down after nearly 18 months on the job. Commissioner Keechant Sewell announced the news in an email to the entire department Monday, according to The New York Times. “While my time here will come to a close, I will never step away from my advocacy and support for the N.Y.P.D., and I will always be a champion for the people of New York City,” she wrote. “Please continue to do what you do well to secure this city.” It remains unclear what prompted her decision, though the New York Post over the weekend chronicled an ongoing power struggle between Sewell and Mayor Eric Adams—one that Sewell was apparently losing. She was sworn in to lead the country’s largest police department on Jan. 1, 2022.