Sheilah Coley started work in East Orange on Nov. 30, officials said.
EAST ORANGE -- When Sheilah Coley retired from the Newark Police Department just over a year ago, the 25-year veteran was highly praised for the work she did there, and for the barriers she broke.
Coley was the department's first-ever female chief, and its first female director.
"As the first African-American woman police director, she is truly to be commended as a trailblazer with an impressive longevity in the Newark Police Department," Newark Mayor Ras Baraka said of Coley at the time.
About a year into her retirement, Coley has taken a job in her hometown, East Orange. The city announced last week that it has created a new Department of Public Safety, an umbrella agency consisting of the recently consolidated departments of police, fire, and emergency management. And Coley will be at its helm.
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As she is settling into the role - another first for a female officer - Coley said she isn't thinking about her personal legacy.
"I'm pretty much just doing my job," she said in a phone interview Monday. "I've always been persistent with moving forward in my career, but I didn't do it so I could (be the first) at anything."
The new department and director are signing on at a time when city officials say East Orange is experiencing a resurgence. Despite several fatal shootings and large-scale drug busts over the summer, city officials say the overall crime rate is going down.
The city reported 719 property and violent crimes during the first seven months of this year, a 21 percent decrease from the number of offenses reported during the same period last year, officials said. From 2003 to 2014, the murder rate in the city dropped 73 percent.
Coley said one of her main goals is to work with the department to continue the downward trend, but she won't be implementing many of the initiatives she oversaw in Newark.
"We don't have the same issues here," she said, noting a recent uptick in Newark homicides. But, some of the "smaller initiatives" she saw in Newark, like those aimed at "building bridges" between police and fire officials and the community, might work in East Orange, she said.
Coley's appointment is awaiting review and a vote from the city council, which officials said will likely happen in January. Some of Coley's first tasks will include taking an inventory of the departments' equipment and facilities, and reviewing their budgets to see how sharing expenses between them could cut overall costs.
Coley's salary was not made immediately available.
East Orange has not had a police director for five years, since then-director Jose Cordero retired after the city council voted not to renew his $160,000 contract.
Councilwoman Quilla Talmadge, who chair's the board's public safety committee, said it was time to bring a director to both the police and fire departments. While the chiefs will handle the day-to-day operations of the departments, Coley will oversee the administrative aspects, Talmadge said. So far, she said the partnerships have been working well.
"Crime is still going down overall...but we can do even better," she said.
"(Coley) seems to be the one who can pull it all together."
Jessica Mazzola may be reached at jmazzola@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @JessMazzola. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
