Sewell, who made history, leaves NYPD with integrity intact

The trouble with breaking glass ceilings is that the shards can be hazardous to the glass-breaker. Based on newspaper accounts, it seems former Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell, the first female appointed to head the NYPD, found this to be true and chose to leave before she got seriously cut.

Under the City Charter, the police commissioner has a five-year term. Few last that long. In fact, of the 45 people appointed to the post since 1901 (including William Bratton and Raymond Kelly, each of whom served twice), only six have served longer than five years. That is because the job comes with a very important caveat. The police commissioner serves at the pleasure of the mayor, not the other way around.

Most mayors, when screening candidates for the post, promise not to interfere with their handling of the NYPD. A few mayors have actually kept their promise, but the majority can’t help themselves. With the Adams’ administration it has become obvious that all major police decisions and apparently many minor ones must first be vetted, either through City Hall or by the Deputy Mayor for Public Safety (and former NYPD chief of department Phil Banks. On its face, it might seem like a good idea to have had two former high ranking NYPD officials, Adams and Banks, provide guidance to Sewell since she came from outside the department and commanded a relatively small unit compared with the NYPD, the nation's largest municipal police department.

But when it became clear to her that their guidance was actually undermining her authority, she chose to leave on her own terms. There had been rumors in the department for weeks beforehand about her impending resignation, yet the mayor claims he was caught off-guard. What probably caught him off-guard was that the woman he appointed to break the glass ceiling soon realized that once it had been breached, there was a big hole over her head with little or no cover.

Her story is somewhat reminiscent of another NYPD glass-ceiling breaker, the department’s first female deputy commissioner, a former probation officer named Ellen O’Grady. She was appointed in 1918 by Police Commissioner Richard Enright under orders from Mayor John Hylan. As fifth deputy commissioner, O’Grady was in command of the newly created Special Duty Division, charged with investigating white slavery and tending to the welfare of minors.

Like Sewell’s, her appointment garnered much positive publicity for the department, but behind the scenes, O’Grady and Enright were at odds almost right from the start. It took several months for her command to get staffing, because there were no civil service provisions to hire women other than matrons and O’Grady needed trained female investigators to do her job properly. Eventually policewoman and patrolwoman titles were created and staff positions were filled, but by then her relationship with Enright had completely soured. 

After serving two miserable years as fifth deputy commissioner, her dissatisfaction with both the mayor and her boss finally made the newspapers. When she appeared in his office to tender her resignation, Enright admitted sarcastically that he did not try to change her mind. He immediately disbanded the Special Duty Division and the department’s first female deputy commissioner was never heard from again. It was an ignominious ending for a pioneering glass-ceiling breaker in the NYPD.

I think history will be kinder to Sewell. Her 18-months tenure was longer than those of 18 other NYPD commissioners and longer than the first term of the man who would go on to serve the longest in the position, Raymond Kelly. Most importantly, she leaves with her integrity intact, something that will serve her well in the future.

Bernard Whalen is a former NYPD lieutenant and co-author of “The NYPD’s First Fifty Years” and “Case Files of the NYPD.”