Here are the names being floated to replace NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell after her sudden exit
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell’s sudden announcement on Monday that she would be stepping down as the city’s top cop sent shockwaves throughout the department and City Hall.
It remained unclear as of Monday evening who would be tapped by Mayor Eric Adams to lead the nation’s largest police force — but speculation swirled, with the names of several of Hizzoner’s allies being floated as possible replacements, according to law-enforcement sources.
City officials also have not said if Sewell’s resignation announcement to the NYPD’s approximately 55,000 members would take effect immediately or in 30 days, as is typical with such high-level departures.
Here’s who is rumored to be on the short-list to take over the reins of the department:
First Deputy Commissioner Edward Caban
In the absence of a commissioner, the top cop’s first deputy, in this case, Edward Caban, would step into the role.
Caban — who is notably close with Adams, according to sources — has been with the NYPD for more than three decades.
He has served as the first deputy commissioner since Adams took office in January 2022 and made history as the highest-ranking Hispanic member of the force.
Caban is well-liked in the ranks.
He was an inspector before being plucked by the mayor’s transition team for the second-highest spot, which is a civilian role.
If selected, he would make history as the first Hispanic police commissioner in the NYPD.
Caban got wrapped up in the NYPD exam scandal of the mid-1990s but cleared of any wrongdoing, The Post previously reported.
NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell's sudden resignation
Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell abruptly announced Monday that she was stepping down after nearly a year and a half as the first woman at the helm of the NYPD.
Then-Mayor-elect Eric Adams tapped the Nassau County chief of detectives as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD in December 2021. Sources at the time said Adams had long had his eye on Sewell for commissioner after saying he wanted a woman to lead the department.
Sewell, a Queens native, was just the third black police commissioner after Benjamin Ward, who served from 1984 to 1989 under Mayor Ed Koch, and Lee Brown, Mayor David Dinkins’ first police chief, from 1990 to 1992.
She did not provide a reason for her departure, and it was not immediately clear who would be taking over to lead the largest police force in the country.
Sewell’s relationship with City Hall had seemed to sour in recent months, with the commissioner finding herself increasingly handcuffed when trying to make key department decisions, The Post reported.
He was also docked 20 days for using his work car for personal use.
Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey
Another name floated is the department’s highest-ranking police officer, Jeffrey Maddrey.
Maddrey, who had boasted even before Adams took office that he would be chief of the department under the mayor, took over for Chief Ken Corey last November and overhauled leadership.
Also, a close ally of the mayor, Maddrey has been dogged by controversy.
Most recently, the Civilian Complaint Review Board sustained allegations against him, ruling that he abused his authority by voiding the arrest of a former cop, who was accused of waving a firearm at a trio of kids in Brooklyn in late 2021.
The complaint caused further turmoil in the upper ranks last month, according to sources, after Sewell decided to discipline the chief over the incident, setting off a standoff between Maddrey and the CCRB — and contributing to a power struggle between the commissioner and City Hall.
Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phil Banks
Another name that has repeatedly been brought up is Deputy Mayor of Public Safety Phil Banks.
Banks comes with his own baggage as an unindicted alleged co-conspirator in one of the NYPD’s largest corruption scandals.
The deputy mayor, another longtime friend of Adams, was once the NYPD’s chief of the department under then-Police Commissioner Bill Bratton but abruptly resigned in 2014.
At the time, he cited a rift between him and Bratton as the reason.
It was later revealed his departure also came as the feds started asking questions about “hundreds of thousands” of dollars in Banks’ account.
Banks, who was never charged and repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in the scandal, has since tried to rebuild his public image under Adams, holding public briefings and often introducing the mayor at press events.
The Adams administration may though still look outwards as it did during the transition to find the next top cop in the NYPD.
“It’s all speculation right now,” one source said.
