New NYPD Commissioner Must Listen to New Yorker’s Demands and Leave Failed Policing Strategies in the Past

Today Mayor-Elect Eric Adams formally announced that Keechant Sewell will serve as the next NYPD Commissioner.

In response to Mayor-Elect Adams’ announcement, Communities United for Police Reform issued the following statement from spokesperson Mark Winston Griffith: 

"As the person in charge of running the NYPD, the largest police force in the country, Keechant Sewell must be accountable to the demands of New Yorkers, not beholden to failed policing strategies of the past. Unfortunately, Keechant Sewell's comments on broken windows policing and notoriously violent plainclothes units that have historically targeted Black, Latinx, and other communities of color is a doubling down on past administrations' failed policies," said Mark Winston Griffith (he/him), spokesperson for Communities United for Police Reform. "While Sewell was answering questions at a mock press conference about the hypothetical police killing of a Black man, too many real families, including the families of Delrawn Small, Kawaski Trawick, Antonio Williams, Eric Garner, and others, are still waiting for the NYPD to fire officers who killed their loved ones. New Yorkers deserve an NYPD Commissioner who will fire officers who abuse, harass, brutalize, and kill, not help spin the NYPD's violence, misconduct, and violations of New Yorker's rights. Sewell must listen to the demands of New Yorkers and commit to real accountability and transparency by releasing all the misconduct records allowed under the repeal of 50a and ensuring an end to the culture of impunity at the NYPD.” 

About Communities United for Police Reform

Communities United for Police Reform (CPR) is an unprecedented campaign to end discriminatory and abusive policing practices in New York, and to build a lasting movement that promotes public safety and reduces reliance on policing. CPR runs coalitions of over 200 local, statewide and national organizations, bringing together a movement of community members, lawyers, researchers and activists to work for change. The partners in this campaign come from all 5 boroughs, from all walks of life and represent many of those most unfairly targeted by the NYPD.