The new top cops in the Newark Police Department — including the first female police chief — were formally introduced by Mayor Booker on Tuesday.

Speaking for the first time since being confirmed and appointed last week, Police Director Samuel DeMaio, 44, and Police Chief Sheilah Coley said Tuesday that they were ready to work together to bring crime rates down without squabbling that led to the elimination of the police chief position in 2008.

As police chief, Coley will supervise the day-to-day running of the department, which has more than 1,100 officers. She will report to DeMaio, who will handle policy and budget decisions.

Newark Mayor Cory Booker, flanked by the Municipal Council members, who were unanimous in their support for DeMaio last week, said this year the city has experienced "undoubtedly one of the most difficult summers in the last decade."

"It is in the midst of these very difficult days that one man and one woman have already distinguished themselves," Booker said.

DeMaio became acting police director in May after his predecessor, Garry McCarthy, left to become the Chicago Police Department’s superintendent.

The number of homicides has ticked down from this time last year -- 17 in June and July compared to 22 in the same period in 2010 -- the number of shootings has increased.

Demaio joined the Newark Police Department in 1986, at age 19. He is the youngest person to achieve each of the ranks to which he was promoted.

"It's something that I always wanted to do since I was a child," he said. "There's no other career path that I ever thought of other than law enforcement."

When DeMaio took over, he appointed Coley as the head of the department's office of internal affairs. It was the latest in a string of appointment for Coley, who joined the department in 1989 and rose through the ranks, becoming captain in 2004.

Last week, she became the first woman in Newark's history to hold the police chief position. Booker described her as "a trailblazer."

Coley said there were only 15 women when she joined the police department in 1989. Today, there are 202, holding each position, except the deputy chief’s.

"For me, to stand here 22 years later and be the chief of an agency that I love so much is just an unbelievable honor," she said.