A 36-year NYPD veteran was appointed to head the city’s probation department Friday, despite her controversial decision earlier this month to invite the rapper Cardi B to participate in the “Girl Talk” police mentorship program at the police academy.
Juanita Holmes previously served as the department's chief of training, and will be the first Black woman to lead it.
Local news organizations reported last month that Holmes had gone over the head of NYPD Police Commissioner Keechant Sewell when she invited Cardi B to the academy event. But at a press conference on Friday, Mayor Eric Adams called Holmes' decision to include the star a “brilliant idea.”
“This is an administration that believes perfectly imperfect people can use their lessons to help people as they move forward in life,” said Adams.
“The same reason she brought Cardi B is the same reason people voted for me, because I was arrested,” he said.
Adams also said Holmes has the empathy needed to run the department charged with supervising people who have been convicted of crimes but who have not been sentenced to jail or prison.
“She understands that we don’t give up on people,” said Adams. “And nowhere do we understand that better than the Department of Probation.”
Holmes will take over the role from Acting Commissioner Michael Forte.
