Reports: Former Seattle police chief Carmen Best in running to lead NYPD
Police Chief Carmen Best (Q13 News photo)
SEATTLE - Former Seattle Police Chief Carmen Best is reportedly a finalist to lead the New York Police Department (NYPD).
The New York Post reports that the diverse list of successors for Police Commissioner Dermot Shea — the third white Irish-American officer under Mayor Bill de Blasio — has been narrowed down to six to eight women in a nationwide search.
The New York Times also reported on Wednesday, based on an unnamed source, that Best is among "at least two Black women" under New York City mayor-elect Eric Adams’ consideration for the NYPD commissioner’s job.
The Post reports that Best is leading the pack of candidates.
"Sources say Best caught the incoming administration’s attention with her refusal to give into overreach from the city council and her track record of standing up for the rank-and-file, including sacrificing her six-figure salary by stepping down," the Post reported.
During Adams' campaign for mayor, he focused primarily on two key positions: police commissioner and schools chancellor. He has pledged to hire the city’s first female police commissioner to address violent crime — one of the main issues he ran on.
Best, during an interview with The Seattle Times on Wednesday, brought up the Post, saying she didn’t want to comment or talk about it.
The Seattle Times reported that later in the interview when asked if she’d ever consider being a police chief again, she responded: "When it comes to the future, I’m not ruling anything out."
According to NYPD, there are at least 36,000 officers with the agency and 19,000 civilian employees-- an agency much larger than the 1,300 deployable officer force that Best lead while in Seattle.
Best resigned from the Seattle Police Department in September of 2020 after the Seattle City Council voted to slash the department’s budget.
Best was vocal in her opposition to the cuts, which came after councilmembers pledged to redirect money from SPD to community programs amid calls from protesters in the wake of George Floyd's death in Minneapolis.
While a 28-year veteran of SPD, Best only took on the role of police chief in July 2018.
She is the first Black woman to have led SPD.
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