SHORT TAKES ON THE DRIFTING WRECKAGE – OVERNIGHT: 

NEW YORK MAYOR-ELECT MAKES HIS FIRST MOVE – FROM THE NEW YORK POST:  Mayor-elect Eric Adams has tapped Nassau County Chief of Detectives Keechant Sewell as the first female police commissioner of the NYPD — a stunning, close-to-home pick from a field of seasoned top women cops across the country, The Post has learned.  “I’m here to meet the moment,” Sewell told The Post in an exclusive interview Tuesday, just a couple of weeks before she becomes the city’s 45th top cop.  At a time when the NYPD and the city its officers are sworn to protect are at a crossroads over a sharp rise in street violence, her name will join the fabled ranks of such reform-minded New York police commissioners as Teddy Roosevelt and in modern times, William Bratton.  “I’m very humbled to even be considered for this and it’s an extraordinary opportunity. And I take it very seriously, the historic nature of this,” she said.  Sewell will be the first woman to take charge of the department in its 176 years.  The surprise choice of the 49-year-old from Long Island — who has led just 351 uniformed officers for the past 15 months — was a “gut-choice” for Adams. Sources say he had favored her for months since the hunt began for the next leader of the largest police force in the county with more than 52,000 members.  Adams, a former NYPD captain, has long said he would appoint a woman to the post and his team launched a nationwide search, interviewing dozens of female executives, including one-time Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best, former Newark Chief Ivonne Roman and Philadelphia Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw.  She is African-American, as is the mayor-elect.  Adams, in my view, has national ambitions.  This is his most important appointment as mayor, and it's a gamble.  If it goes well, and Sewell defeats the criminals, Adams becomes an immediate national figure, like Rudolph Giuliani or Mike Bloomberg.  But if Sewell is crushed, or is seen as simply a politically correct choice, the Adams regime could fade away quickly.  Adams is a shrewd operator.  This will be fascinating to watch, for he has called himself "the future of the Democratic Party. 

December 14, 2021