First Woman NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell to Morning Joe: First Priority Is ‘Get a Hand on Violence’

New York City Mayor-Elect Eric Adams made a historic pick for his first Police Commissioner Wednesday when he selected the first woman ever to hold that role, Keechant Sewell. She appeared on Morning Joe Thursday morning to discuss her new job.

Sewell held a similar role in nearby Nassau County and has been widely lauded for her discipline and candor, which were on display during her first cable news appearance since being named the top cop in NYC.

“You are coming in really at difficult times,” Joe Scarborough opened before paraphrasing San Francisco mayor London Breed saying enough is enough and ‘we are going to be more aggressive in our policing out here and stop the crime wave.” The Morning Joe host then asked his guest how she intends to strike the balance between police reform but also  “letting police officers do their job without worrying and there is going to be no matter what they do, they’re going to be attacked.”

“The first thing we have to do is get hands-on the violence,” she replied. “We’ll be laser-focused on that.” She then added that
We’ll support officers to step up to do their job and we want to go to the communities for their ideas to support and how they can start on the initiatives and get a handle on this.”

Scarborough then noted that “A lot of cops have been back on their heels and afraid to go in and do things where they can put their lives on the line but also where they can put their careers on the line.” He then asked “How do you let them know, we are going to hold you accountable if you go over the line and do things that are just out of line. But, you do your job but we got your back.”

“We’ll support the officers 100% and give them the tools and training they need,” she replied. “You have to have that support. We can’t do anything about the community. When they support the police officers, we are going to be a given service they need.”

Sewell went on to answer a number of other complicated and polite but politically-charged questions which she proceeded to answer with pithy aplomb. It seemed very clear that she did not appear on Morning Joe to win friends and influence people but to show that she valued discipline and directness, which will be a part of her mission to lead the NYPD.

And on that note, she nailed it.

Watch above via MSNBC.

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