2 women lead Newark Police Department

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) - Women are leading the police department in New Jersey’s largest city for the first time in the department’s 125-year history.

Sheilah Coley was confirmed as Newark’s police director while Ivonne Roman was promoted to the city’s police chief on Thursday.

Coley became the city’s first police chief in 2011. She had served as commander of the Internal Affairs Unit.

Roman, who moved to Newark from Puerto Rico when she was 6 months old, joined the department 19 years ago.

Newark Fraternal Order of Police president James Stewart Jr. tells The Star-Ledger of Newark (https://bit.ly/1d043Rj ) the union is confident Roman will excel in the role.

The city had 111 homicides last year, the most since 1990. A federal monitor is keeping tabs on the department amid misconduct allegations.

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Information from: The (Newark, N.J.) Star-Ledger, https://www.nj.com