Inside the turmoil that led NYPD’s commissioner to walk away

NEW YORK — On Monday afternoon, Keechant Sewell, commissioner of the New York Police Department, walked into Mayor Eric Adams’ office unannounced, according to a mayoral adviser.

The two met alone and spoke for about 15 minutes. Then, about a half-hour later, around 4:30 p.m., she sent a departmentwide email that rocked City Hall and stunned the 34,000 officers who received it. In it, Sewell said she would step down.

Sewell, 51, a guarded official known for a detached professionalism, had given few signs that she was unhappy. In the weeks before her announcement — and the day after — she made the kind of public appearances expected of a commissioner: ringing the bell at the New York Stock Exchange, walking in the Puerto Rican Day parade and speaking at promotion and memorial ceremonies.

On Tuesday morning, the police commissioner for less than 18 months spoke to high school students being honored by the Police Athletic League, including one who had been awarded the title “Police Commissioner for a Day.” She told them that law enforcement is a fulfilling career: “The NYPD and our city need more young people who are problem solvers.”

However, Sewell said nothing about her own frustrations. Only a few of her closest aides had known she would be announcing her resignation, according to people with knowledge of the commissioner’s plans.

Over the past year, rumors had swirled that other appointees in the department were undermining her authority, specifically Philip Banks III, deputy mayor of public safety, and Timothy Pearson, a senior adviser to Adams, according to several police and City Hall officials. And in recent days, her relationship with Adams appeared to reach a breaking point, according to a high-ranking City Hall official.

Sewell declined to comment, according to a department spokesperson. Banks said in a text that any suggestion of meddling was “untruthful gossip” and to call him for comment “when you get a quote from Commissioner Sewell.”

Last month, Sewell had moved to strip Jeffrey Maddrey, the highest-ranking uniformed officer and a close associate of Adams, of 10 vacation days after he interfered with the arrest of a retired officer who chased three boys while he was armed.

Around the same time, she was told she could not make discretionary promotions even at the lower levels of the department without getting clearance from the Adams administration, said Kenneth Corey, former chief of the department, who worked under Sewell until he retired in November.

“She was gradually being stripped of power,” he said. “Now they had taken the power to make the most basic of decisions.”

That kind of meddling did not happen in prior administrations, said Corey, who praised Sewell as an “incredibly intelligent” commissioner who acted with “honor and integrity.”

Corey, who said he had been briefed by highly placed officials about the recent inner workings of the department, said Sewell’s pending departure has “devastated” and angered many officers.

“They wonder what’s next,” he said.

Sewell has not provided a reason for her decision to leave the job, which paid about $243,000 a year. On Tuesday afternoon, her office released a statement in which she thanked Adams — whom she had not mentioned in the internal email announcing her resignation — for the opportunity to lead the department.

“The time I have spent in our communities — meeting everyday New Yorkers — has been among the most rewarding experiences of my tenure,” she wrote.

Adams on Tuesday began an unrelated news conference by saying that Sewell was “probably my proudest appointment,” but acknowledged that he was a deeply involved manager.

Sewell and Adams were both expected to attend a celebration Tuesday evening hosted by the Gay Officers Action League at Police Department headquarters, an event both had agreed to attend well before her resignation was announced. Adams canceled at 6 p.m.

Little is known about the conversation on Monday between the mayor and Sewell, or what exactly led her to resign.

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