Keechant Sewell hosts private safety meetings with NYC companies

Mayor Adams’ top police officer has met privately with workers from top Big Apple companies to convince them NYC is safe as the city struggles to get workers back full-time amid rises in violent crime has learned The Post.

Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell has held a series of unique virtual safety briefings with big companies they have requested since April and checked another meeting with Adams and the Big Four accounting firms in the books of The Post on Thursday morning, according to sources and a copy of the invitation.

“This is an incredibly important conversation and I encourage you to join our Big 4 peers to take advantage of this unique opportunity to hear directly from NYC leaders,” said an invitation to staff at accounting firms Deloitte LLP, PricewaterhouseCoopers , Ernst & Young and KPMG.

“The Mayor and Police Commissioner will discuss the city’s priorities focused on public safety, homelessness and protecting our community members and economy, including the continued response to COVID-19 and initiatives to encourage New Yorkers to reconnect with their communities to unite offices and communities.”

Sources say Sewell has stepped in at least a dozen times to support the mayor in his public relations push to bring the Big Apple out of lockdowns and back into a busy business hub and work from home.

At the same time, the majority of companies have all but phased out their full-time press to bring workers back to the office full-time, favoring a hybrid model instead. Currently, just 8% of Manhattan office workers are in the office five days a week, according to new data from a recent Partnership for NYC survey.

Thursday’s security briefing also follows high-profile crimes on the city’s public transit system — like the unprovoked killing of Goldman Sachs employee Daniel Enriquez on a Q train bound for Manhattan on Sunday morning.

An insider said this type of meeting has never happened during her tenure, but it’s something that needs to be done.

“People are afraid to come to work,” the source said, citing the death of Michelle Go, a senior executive at leading consulting firm Deloitte.

Kathy Wylde, CEO of the Partnership for NYC, said Adams police officers offered to make those briefings available to all of the nearly 300 business leaders who are members of the nonprofit group.

“This has been established for a long time, the NYPD has been conducting these meetings,” Wylde said, adding that the meeting was for officials “to talk to staffers over the internet about what he/NYPD is doing to help the city and.” to make the subways safe.”

Adams, Sewell, Brad Silver, Partner of PwC, Roger G. Arrieux, Jr. Managing Partner of Deloitte NY, Herb Engert, Managing Partner of EY NY and Yessi Scheker, Managing Partner of KPMG NY will moderate the hour-long webcast on Thursday at 8 p.m :00 am.

Business sources were divided on whether the nearly two-year rise in crime – driven mainly by auto thefts, burglaries, robberies and grand larceny, as well as the more serious acts of gun violence – has kept them unsafe.

“The subway isn’t unsafe enough to stop taking, but I’m definitely more confident, no longer wearing headphones and standing in the middle of the platform,” a bank source told The Post.

Another said: “Crime is old news… people don’t really talk about it.”

“Adams isn’t a miracle worker, but at least he’s saying the right thing. But cities are more dangerous and people have accepted that. However, Wall Street is leaning to the right, and after Texas, even they were alarmed.”

However, a banker in his 20s brushed off the concern, saying only older people like his parents deal with crime in the city.

“I don’t hear about it from anyone else.”