Since joining the New York City Police Department, she has overseen a comprehensive strategy aimed at addressing the safety of New Yorkers while simultaneously improving the core features of the agency. She launched the Innovation Steering Committee, where six-hundred of the Department’s executive staff and thought leaders were charged with conducting a top-to-bottom analysis of the Department, reviewing and evaluating emerging technologies and best practices. The three-month initiative culminated in nearly 250 recommendations for improved data analytics, community engagement, technology, officer safety, and the creation of an ongoing structure for such analysis going forward.
Under her leadership, the NYPD has increased its productivity with a diminished workforce. Total arrests, index crime arrests, illegal gun arrests and seizures, criminal and civil summonses, illegal dirt bike/ATV seizures, street encampment cleanups, as well as transit system patrols and sweeps, all increased during her first year in office, and have continued on the same trajectory in 2023. These improvements coincide with the creation of a more precise strategic deployment of officers, augmenting traditional patrol to areas of the city that are experiencing spikes in violent crime and shootings. She bolstered patrol strength and operational headcount by nearly 1,000 uniform staff members, the equivalent of two Police Academy classes, by auditing job functions and redeploying uniformed personnel performing administrative functions. The uniformed force has increased diversity since January 2022, with increases in the number of members who identify as minorities and women in both the executive ranks and in Academy classes.
She made officer wellness a cornerstone of her administration. Working with labor unions, she developed and began piloting new work schedules that will result in less weekly appearances for officers without reducing the total hours worked each week. These new schedules will result in more officers working at times they are needed most, while giving officers more time to spend with their families. Recognizing the stresses working unplanned overtime has on officers, she initiated a portal where overtime assignments are posted and officers can volunteer for assignments that do not disrupt their off-duty lives.
Commissioner Sewell spearheaded a comprehensive review of the Department’s organizational structure. Multiple units, divisions and bureaus were consolidated in order to eliminate needless redundancy and to ensure the efficient use of resources. The Professional Standards Bureau was created to better implement compliance mechanisms, improve objective and independent evaluations, and devise corrective action for members of the service.
She has also leveraged technology to better connect to the public and to keep our officers and the city safe. Whether through initiating the development of a user friendly NYPD App, augmenting the NYPD fleet with QR codes, and enrolling the NYPD into the Ring Neighbors Program, the public can now interface with the department and access services like never before. Officers can use augmented reality programming to expand the data available to them while responding to calls for help, expanded use of robotics to ensure their and the public’s safety, and advanced GPS software to decrease vehicle pursuits and increase the likelihood of retrieving stolen cars, serve as some examples of the advancements under her leadership.
In addition to the myriad crime-reduction strategies, she has focused on forging meaningful and lasting relationships between the Department and our communities, businesses, elected leaders, and government agencies. Through initiatives such as Community Compstat, real-time incident alerts, and multi-agency taskforces, she opened the door to strategic partners and highlighted that public safety is a shared responsibility. These collaborative efforts have delivered proven results in addressing quality of life issues.
She is a graduate of the 235th Session of the FBI National Academy in Quantico, Virginia where she was selected by her peers to be the Class Spokesperson for the National Academy’s commencement address. She is a federal Joint Terrorism Task Force executive board member, a Counterterrorism Zone 1 co-chairperson, and is a New York State certified police instructor who developed and presented on strategic communications, interview and interrogation and supervisory leadership curriculums. She is an FBI trained hostage negotiator and has been a negotiator for over twenty years, rising to become the Chief Negotiator of Nassau PD’s negotiation team.
Commissioner Sewell has the distinction of becoming the first sitting NYPD Commissioner to be named “PBA Person of the Year”, honored with the first annual Torch Award from MovementForward Inc., and has received awards from many of the NYPD’s fraternal organizations, as well as organizations such as the Police Athletic League and Survivors of the Shield. She is also the recipient of the Meritorious Police Award, numerous community awards, town and county citations and was selected as the 2021 Person of the Year by the Nassau County Detectives Association.