Juanita Holmes, first black woman at key New York police station

Juanita Holmes at an event in 2016 (archives) -

Juanita Holmes, was promoted Thursday to one of the key positions of the New York police force.

For the first time, it is a black woman who will have this charge.

It will have to restore confidence in a police under fire from critics since the Black Lives Matter movement.

New York Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio has appointed Juanita Holmes as head of patrols, placing her in charge of the 77 police stations and a majority of NYPD police, the United States' first municipal police force with nearly 35,000 employees.

"It's incredibly important that the police leaders look like the city (…), that they really feel the neighborhoods and the people," said the Democratic mayor.

After thirty years of ascension in the police force, and a brief experience in the private sector, Juanita Holmes was already, since December, as person in charge of the "collaboration" with the population, the most senior woman of the NYPD.

She admitted her appointment came in "a troubled time" for New York police.

In two stages against Black Lives Matter

The NYPD was first accused of numerous brutalities during the massive Black Lives Matter protests that rocked New York City after George Floyd's death in late May.

Then to have eased off, contributing to an outbreak of homicides and shootings, for the first time since the 1990s. An unusually high number of police have left or want to retire, a sign of low morale.

And the previous Patrol Chief, of Dominican origin, had recently resigned, after less than a year in his post, after disagreements with the mayor, according to local media.

The main New York police union, hostile to Bill De Blasio and calling for the re-election of Donald Trump, applauded the appointment of Juanita Holmes.

"New York police are in desperate need of capable leaders like Chief Holmes who can stand up to politicians and help curb the city's decline," tweeted its president, Patrick Lynch.

As the city prepares for a particularly tense period with the approach of the presidential election on November 3, and for radical budget cuts due to the fiscal shortfall linked to the pandemic, Juanita Holmes has promised to work to "restore the New Yorkers' confidence ”in the police, in particular by deepening the community policing efforts already underway, which should in turn boost police morale.

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