Keechant Sewell: Everything to know about the first NYPD female commissioner

Keechant Sewell is set to become the first black woman to hold the post of NYPD’s top cop after Mayor-elect Eric Adams on Wednesday, December 15, 2021 named her as NYPD commissioner.

Mayor-elect Eric Adams was keen on the “emotional intelligence” Keechant Sewell showed during the grueling interview process that capped off with an hours-long mock press conference about the shooting of an apparently unarmed black man by a white police officer. Keechant Sewell projected a calm confidence and ability to connect with the community during the pretend scenario.

Keechant Sewell lived her earliest years in public housing in the Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City.

Keechant Sewell later lived in Corona and Jamaica, Queens, where she found a mentor in a retired NYPD detective named John Wesley Pierce, whom she affectionately called “Pop Pop.”

Keechant Sewell currently lives in Long Island’s Valley Stream, where she enjoys cooking and hosting her large family and friends.

Keechant Sewell was promoted to chief of detectives in Nassau County in September 2020 and is the first black female to reach that rank in the county.

For the three years prior to her promotion, Keechant Sewell created and ran the department’s Professional Standards Bureau, which oversaw the agency’s internal affairs.

Keechant Sewell also trained with the FBI to be the county’s chief hostage negotiator and received counterterrorism training at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va.

Keechant Sewell will begin her new job when Eric Adams takes office on January 1, 2022.