First female NYPD commissioner can't do this anymore

 

 

City & State

New York City Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell is resigning from her job as top cop, ending her 18-month tenure amid an ongoing power struggle with City Hall.

In a statement on Monday evening, Mayor Eric Adams thanked Sewell for her leadership. “When we came into office, crime was trending upwards, and thanks to the brave men and women of the NYPD, most of the major crime categories are now down,” the emailed statement read. “The commissioner worked nearly 24 hours a day, seven days a week for a year and a half, and we are all grateful for her service. New Yorkers owe her a debt of gratitude.”

But even if Adams has publicly praised his commissioner, there has been tension behind the scenes. Sewell wasn’t able to make even simple moves like promoting a cop to detective without approval from City Hall, the New York Post reported Saturday. Police insiders have long said it seemed like Adams and his Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks – both of whom are retired police officers – were bigfooting Sewell, and the problem reportedly got worse when the commissioner followed through on disciplining Chief of Department Jeff Maddrey for wrongly intervening in an arrest. Maddrey is a favorite of Adams and others in City Hall, and the mayor seemed to undermine Sewell by publicly defending Maddrey. 

One City Council member who asked for anonymity to discuss a developing situation, suggested that Sewell leaving One Police Plaza was more a question of when than if. “If someone is surprised,” they said, “that’s because they haven’t been paying attention.”

 

Cannot blame her at all, live long and prosper Commissioner Sewell.

Mayor Eric Adams wants you to goo goo. pic.twitter.com/Vp9xVA7dIE

— JQ LLC (@ImpunityCity) September 1, 2022

NYPD's proxy commissioner

THE CITY

When Philip Banks was named deputy mayor for public safety in January, Mayor Eric Adams dodged questions about his longtime pal being named an unindicted co-conspirator in a high profile police corruption case.

While most big Adams announcements took place via well-attended news conferences, Banks’ appointment emerged via a press release sent out late on a Friday. 

Since then, Banks has made few public appearances and has answered no questions.

Behind the scenes, however, he has been very busy. 

As deputy mayor for public safety, Banks is officially responsible for overseeing agencies that include the Fire Department and Department of Correction. The NYPD is not in his portfolio because the police commissioner is supposed to report directly to the mayor.

But daily schedules obtained by THE CITY show his activities for the first five months of the Adams administration, from January through May, include six sit-downs with top NYPD chiefs — without Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell.

Separately, Banks has met regularly one-on-one with Sewell on Sunday afternoons at undisclosed locations.

Those schedules —  obtained by THE CITY via the Freedom of Information Law and highly redacted by City Hall — also show Banks meeting with lobbyists from firms that sell law enforcement technologies, including weapons detection and drone surveillance systems.

Working out of a 16th floor office in an anonymous tower a block away from One Police Plaza, this former cop has been immersed in shaping NYPD policy on hot-button issues including efforts to constrain overtime, improve the city’s 911 system, and reform police discipline.

The schedules suggest the mayor even tasked him with examining the use of police traffic stops.

Multiple people from inside and outside the government who have met with Banks told THE CITY that it’s clear the deputy mayor wields tremendous power in the administration. 

On one rare occasion when Banks did make public remarks, at a City Council hearing on March 30, he spoke on Sewell’s behalf, as well as for Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice Director Deanna Logan.

“Mayor Adams’ commitment to dedicated public safety resources is demonstrated by the creation of the leadership team that sits before you today,” Banks said of the trio. “We are working together collaboratively to execute the mayor’s comprehensive vision for safety in our city.”

THE CITY sent multiple detailed questions to Adams spokesman Fabien Levy, about Banks’ schedule and his role in the administration. Levy declined to comment.

Sprawling is a good word to describe Banks’ activities as the man behind the curtain.

His daily schedules for Jan. 1 through May 31 show the deputy mayor has interviewed many candidates for top political appointments, including the top FDNY job (currently held by Acting Commissioner Laura Kavanagh); positions on the Civilian Complaint Review Board, which investigates police misconduct allegations; and the Mayor’s Office of Criminal Justice (MOCJ), which promotes criminal justice reform efforts. All are under his official purview.

Banks has met multiple times with two high-powered Adams appointees with whom he has close personal ties: his brother, Schools Chancellor David Banks, and his brother’s companion, Deputy Mayor of Strategic Initiatives Sheena Wright.

With his brother, Banks discussed school safety during a January meeting in the chancellor’s office at school headquarters and “physical education” during an April 21 meeting at an unknown location. The purpose of a third visit with David Banks at school headquarters on May 31 is not listed. 

But no city agency has been subject to as much of Banks’ micromanaging as his former employer, the NYPD. His intervention complicates big promises Adams, also a former NYPD officer, made about police leadership under his administration. Adams promised he would appoint the first-ever woman to run the 35,000-member force, and followed through by appointing Sewell, who had been the chief of detectives for Nassau County on Long Island for little more than a year.

The daily schedule shows Banks meeting with Sewell at least 18 times since he joined Team Adams, including 12 one-on-one meetings. Most of these took place on Sundays at a location that City Hall blacked out before releasing the documents to THE CITY.  Banks reportedly helped select her for the commissioner job, even before he formally joined the Adams administration.

Eric Adams flaunts nepotism hire for his mayoral campaign

 

NY Daily News

 Democratic mayoral nominee Eric Adams is taking advice from a former NYPD chief who once said he’d plead the Fifth Amendment in a corruption trial — and whose brother is now a top contender to become Adams’ schools chancellor if he’s elected.

Former NYPD Chief of Department Philip Banks is one of several former cops advising Adams when it comes to public safety, three sources confirmed.

And Banks’ brother, David Banks, the president of the Eagle Academy Foundation, is in the mix with Adams as well, but in a slightly different respect.

He’s being eyed as someone who could helm the city’s Department of Education in an Adams’ administration, according to two sources familiar with Adams’ expected transition.

According to one of those sources, Banks is a virtual shoo-in for the job.

“I would be shocked if there were other candidates who came out ahead of him,” the source said. “They go way, way back.”

 When asked about Philip Banks’s role as an advisor, Adams’ campaign spokesman Evan Thies said he “is one of a number of policing experts who have offered their institutional knowledge of the department, including former Commissioner Bratton and other former chiefs of department.”

Adams himself also backed up his choice of Philip as an advisor when it comes to the NYPD

“I’m relying on everyone with experience in law enforcement. I’m not excluding anyone to keep my city safe,” he said Thursday. “Everyone who has served, everyone from police officers to former heads, I’m relying on.”

 

Eric Adams is associating with another awful man named Banks

NY Post 

A former NYPD executive who abruptly retired amid a cloud of controversy is advising Eric Adams on the police department with his expected transition to the mayor of the Big Apple, The Post has learned.

Ex-police chief Philip Banks — who stepped down in 2014 as, it would later be revealed, the feds were eyeing him as part of a widespread bribery case that rocked the NYPD — has recently met with various members of police brass to help prep for the change of city leadership, sources said.

It was not known what was discussed in the meetings or who attended the meetings, only that he has met with some three-star chiefs.

Banks would not confirm his role in the transition when reached by phone Wednesday and referred questions to Adams’ camp.

“Mr. Banks is one of a number of policing experts who have offered their institutional knowledge of the department, including former Commissioner Bratton and other former chiefs of department,” a spokesman for Adams, Evan Thies told The Post. 

He refused to comment on Banks’ involvement.

Adams, who won the Democratic primary for mayor earlier this year, is the heavy favorite to take the rein in New York City come 2022.

Banks, once a rising star in the department, suddenly retired in 2014.