NYPD Commissioner Sewell says cops don’t have to live in the city to be good officers

Police officers investing in the areas they patrol matter more than where they live, Police Commissioner Kichant Sewell said on Wednesday.

“If you work in a city and have a post in this city, I want this officer to contribute to this community — no matter where he or she lives,” Sewall said at a Crain business breakfast in New York. “Whether I live in this community or not, when I come to work, these are my people. This is my community. I am responsible for this unit. I am responsible for this area, so this connection is very important to me.”

Mayor Adams had a different point of view.

“Police officers have to be from the communities where they enforce law and order, especially in a place like New York,” Adams said a few hours later, while noting a change in law requiring police officers to live within five boroughs.

“I am a big supporter and have always believed that our law enforcement should be in New York,” the mayor said. “This is true [about] understanding of the city’s diversity.

Adams said in January 2022 that Sewell was working on a program to encourage police officers to move to the city or stay in the city. The NYPD and City Hall on Wednesday were unable to immediately release any details about the initiative.

Sewell herself does not live in the city. She bought a house in Valley Stream 16 years ago “six or seven blocks from Nassau County” and said she would move to the city if City Hall lifted a de Blasio-era executive order that suspended the requirement that various city commissioners live somewhere in five districts.

She also said that she doesn’t spend much time there.

“I think I live here in New York more than anywhere else,” Sewell said. “The job demands it.”

NYPD officers have not been required to live in the city since the 1960s. About 48% of them lived in the city as of last year, the rest lived on Long Island or north of the Bronx in Westchester, Putnam, Rockland or Orange counties.

Legislators have at various times pushed for a change in the law to allow cops to live in the city, and police unions have said cops, whose salaries start at $42,500, don’t earn enough to live in the city.