Eric finesses Cardi B flap & Keechant slight
Mayor Adams refused to explain Friday why NYPD Commissioner Keechant Sewell wasn’t looped into the controversial decision to invite hip-hop star Cardi B to a police event — and instead praised the NYPD’s former Chief of Training Juanita Holmes for making the move.
Adams spoke as he announced Holmes’ appointment as the city’s new Probation Commissioner.
He said Holmes’ decision to invite Cardi B to an NYPD “Girl’s Talk” event at the Police Academy Feb. 24 “was a continuation of what this commissioner has done. This is her style.”
Adams made that remark in response to a question about why Sewell, who outranked Holmes in the NYPD, wasn’t involved in Holmes’ decision.
“When she was a chief, and now as commissioner, she respects the chain of command,” Adams said of Holmes. “So I don’t have any worries because no one is being rewarded that’s broke the chain of command.”
Adams deflected questions about the situation by joking that he also wasn’t given a heads up about the Cardi B confab and justified Holmes’ decision to invite the rapper by citing a chapter from his own personal story.
“The only disappointing aspect of you having Cardi B was that I wasn’t invited,” Adams said to Holmes during a City Hall press briefing. “The same reason you brought Cardi B is why people voted for me — because I was arrested. You don’t discard people.”
Adams also declined to directly address why Holmes overrode Sewell when it came to a decision to eliminate a requirement that recruits in the police academy be able to complete a 1½-mile run in 14 minutes and 21 seconds.
Sewell rejected the idea because she felt it lowered standards. Holmes believed that by loosening the physical fitness requirement, more female recruits would make it through the academy — an opinion she conveyed to Adams through her connections at City Hall and one that the mayor ultimately sided with.
Despite Holmes winning that battle, the static between her and Sewell led to the decision to remove Holmes from the NYPD and place her atop the Probation Department, according to police sources. But an official in the mayor’s office said the move had been under consideration for months.
Adams spokesman Fabien Levy said the
decision to move Holmes to the probation commissioner job was made this week, but he would not specify the exact day.
Adams said Friday that his thinking on the matter was aimed at addressing recidivism.
“We need to find ways to make sure people who are committing crimes are not continuing to commit crimes,” he said. “I need the commissioner to be directing them in that direction.”
Holmes will replace Michael Forte, who served as acting head of that agency.
Forte appeared alongside Holmes and Adams and Deputy Mayor for Public Safety Phil Banks at a formal announcement of Holmes’ new job at City Hall on Friday, but unlike the three higher-ranking officials, Forte didn’t utter a word at the briefing.
Sewell did not appear at that press conference either, or at a weekly remote press briefing that’s led by Banks. An official with the mayor’s office said Sewell was “out of town” on Friday.
Asked during his briefing about Sewell’s absence, Banks insisted she didn’t have anything to do with the Holmes hiccup.
Banks said the purpose of the briefing he holds was to have “different people” from the administration attend every week to touch on a variety of public safety topics.
“Get used to my ugly face every week,” he said. “Everyone else will be moving and coming back, so that is the reason why there’s no topic for the NYPD this week.”
Holmes’ invitation to include “Bodak Yellow” rapper Cardi B at the Feb. 24 “Girl’s Talk” session at the Police Academy has led to complaints by former city cop Sal Greco, who was sacked for associating with Donald Trump advisor Roger Stone.
Greco’s camp says the invitation violated NYPD Patrol Guide rules barring police from associating with convicted felons. Greco’s firing was based on his association with Stone, who was convicted of lying to Congress and sentenced to 40 months in prison before then-President Trump pardoned him.