Mayor-elect Eric Adams is starting to build the team of people that will help him lead New York City.

Adams welcomed Keechant Sewell into her new role in the NYPD Wednesday morning. She will make history as the first woman to lead the police department in the city and the third Black person to do so.

Adams said she went through a rigorous interview process and what struck him was the empathy she had as a leader.

Sewell worked her way through the ranks of neighboring Nassau County Police Department with the Narcotics Vice Squad. She was a hostage negotiator before becoming the first Black woman to serve as Nassau County Police Department's chief of detectives. For two years in a row, it has been rated the safest community in the country by U.S. News and World Report.

Adams, a former police officer himself, says prevention is key and that the new police commissioner will be working closely with his new schools chancellor, David Banks.

The next commissioner will have a lot of work ahead of her. The overall crime rate in New York City is up over 21% in November of this year compared to November 2020. There were also months of protests against the NYPD in the wake of the death of George Floyd.

The Police Benevolent Association is already backing Adams’ pick, whose grandfather was a member of the NYPD.

Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch said, "We welcome Chief Sewell to the second-toughest policing job in America. New York City police officers have passed our breaking point. We need to fix that break."

The Legal Aid Society cosigned off on that work ahead saying, "We welcome the appointment of a new NYPD commissioner who we hope will bring a new approach to the helm of an agency in dire need of top-to-bottom reforms."