Newark Gets First Female Police Chief

Newark Police Capt. Sheilah Coley, a police veteran who heads the department's Professional Standards unit, was named the city's acting police chief Wednesday.

She is the first woman appointed to that post in the department's 175-year history.

The announcement came via a letter by Newark Mayor Cory Booker to the city's nine-member council. The letter was read aloud at Wednesday's city council meeting by Deputy City Clerk Kenneth Lewis moments after the members unanimously voted to re-establish the police chief job.

Neither Coley or Booker attended the meeting.

"I am honored and excited by the challenge of becoming Newark's first female chief of police," said Coley in a statement posted on the Newark Police Department's Facebook page. "I promise my brothers and sisters in blue that I will give them the highest level of professional leadership and the citizens of Newark the best police force in the entire nation."

The council abolished the job in 2008 after an ongoing battle for power between then-Police Chief Anthony Campos and then-Police Director Garry McCarthy. McCarthy left the department in May to become Chicago's police superintendent and Campos now is deputy chief of operations.

Coley had been .

Anne Torres, a city spokeswoman, said Coley's duties as acting police chief begin immediately until she's sworn in. That date has not been set.

Newark Council President Donald Payne Jr., who sponsored the bill to bring back the chief position, told the audience during Wednesday's meeting that the council "made a mistake" when it abolished the job three years ago. "We're here to rectify it today," he said.

The chief appointment comes the same day as city council formally approved Samuel DeMaio, 44, as Newark's police director. The 25-year veteran of the Newark Police Department had been acting director since his appointment in May.

Coley's appointment and DeMaio's approval come at a time when Newark is struggling with nearly three months of ongoing violence that has left more than a dozen people dead, including a  and an .

Despite those episodes of violence, Booker touted DeMaio's efforts, "Director DeMaio is doing more with less and producing results."

Newark Councilman Ronald C. Rice, who represents the West Ward, said DeMaio and Coley will make a good team, "My hope is that they will be a good Batman and Robin. It's a positive step forward and I think morale will get better because they're both from the ranks."

Coley will oversee the 1,100-member department's day-to-day operations, while DeMaio will make policy and budget decisions.

"We are no strangers to each other and share a common passion for our beloved city and department," said DeMaio in a statement. "The police director and chief work hand-in-hand as partners to accomplish common goals. I applaud today's decision."

Booker praised Coley in a statement and called her appointment "historic" for the city and the police department, "I know that Sheilah Coley will manifest, by example, the highest principles of leadership and integrity that she has displayed throughout her career and be a role model for our entire city."

Coley is a 22-year Newark police veteran who began her career as a patrol officer in the city's East and West wards after graduating from the police academy in 1989. In 1991, she became a detective in the narcotics unit and the East Ward detective squad. She was promoted to sergeant in 1996 and returned to the West Ward as a patrol supervisor.

In 2000, she was promoted to lieutenant and assigned to the Safer Cities Task Force as a commander in charge of sex crimes. Two years later, she became the executive officer of the Criminal Investigation Bureau and served a brief term as an investigative lieutenant in the Communications Division. Once she was promoted to captain in 2004, she became executive officer and then commander of the Fifth Precinct in the South Ward before she was picked this year to lead the department's Professional Standards unit.

Derrick Hatcher, president of the Newark Police Officers Union, called Coley a community-minded officer, "What is important here is that (she is) familiar with the communities, the crime, as well as members of this agency, and you can't get better than that."

Bashir Akinyele, a spokesman for Newark Anti-Violence Coalition and Voices of Change and Liberation, said Coley's appointment is exactly what the city needs, "We need a police chief to handle the day-to-day, rank-and-file issues that exist in the city. I think a woman will be more sensitive to the issues affecting American-American and Latino communities."

— Sharon Adarlo contributed to this report.