Tag Archives: NCO

Officers honored at community council

Police officers Colin Dowd, Peter Rodriguez, Joe Sgroi, Kevin Fainer and Manny Rodriguez were honored for their work at the 13th precinct’s most recent community council meeting last month. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Five officers at the 13th precinct were honored as cops of the month at the precinct’s last community council meeting before the summer break on Tuesday, June 18. Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman said that crime in the precinct has been steadily decreasing and he said that the community policing program that launched at the precinct last October has helped.

“I attribute that to the cops on patrol and the NCO philosophy that’s driving down crime,” he said, referring to the program that assigns Neighborhood Coordination Officers to different areas in the precinct. “We had a tough year last year but we’ve been doing better.”

The first awards at the meeting went to two officers who work together as NCOs for Sector A, which covers Stuyvesant Town and Gramercy. Officers Peter Rodriguez and Manny Rodriguez caught a man on Avenue C earlier in the month after they suspected him of riding a stolen motorcycle. After the man was arrested, the officers found that he was wanted citywide for stolen motorcycles and had also been arrested for felony assault after molesting his sister.

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Kips Bay residents still concerned about ACS teens

Administration for Children’s Services Deputy Commissioner Winette Saunders (Photos by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Earlier this year, representatives from the Administration for Children’s Services facility on First Avenue told the Kips Bay community that the agency is working to do more to keep the young people in its care motivated to stay onsite (and incidentally, out of trouble) through new and expanded programming.

However, as of this week, area residents said teenagers staying at the center have continued to wander the neighborhood at night, causing trouble.

Neighbors voiced their concerns on Tuesday night at the most recent meeting held by the 13th Precinct’s Neighborhood Coordinating Officer program for the precinct’s Sector D — the area that covers Kips Bay and Peter Cooper Village.

Eddie Ocasid, the building superintendent for 485 First Avenue, said that teens staying at the ACS building appear unsupervised after 9 p.m. and are often disruptive to residents until 4 in the morning on some nights.

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Cop cracking down on drunk drivers in 13th Precinct

Police Officer Nicholas Clemente with Executive Officer Ernesto Castro at the 13th Precinct Community Council meeting (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Drunk drivers, beware.

Police Officer Nicholas Clemente of the 13th Precinct has arrested so many behind the wheel boozers recently that on Tuesday, he was recognized for his efforts. Clemente was the recipient of the February Cop of the Month award at a meeting held by the 13th Precinct Community Council.

Executive Officer Ernesto Castro, who led the meeting because Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman was out due to a personal matter, said that Clemente had made a significant number of arrests of intoxicated drivers throughout the precinct last year and so far this year.

“(Clemente) has made it his priority to ensure the safety of our motorists and pedestrians every night,” Castro said. “His job is to identify by observation or by accidents whether someone is intoxicated. In 2018, he made it a priority and he arrested 15 people for that, nine of them being from observation alone, either driving in the wrong direction or swerving or taking red lights. This year so far he’s made two valuable arrests for (driving while intoxicated) and he continues to strive toward that.”

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Man had shotgun in car outside club in Flatiron, cops say

Neighborhood Coordinating Officers Eric Demery and Brittany Vera with others from the 13th Precinct, standing by the confiscated weapon (Photo courtesy of the 13th Precinct)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

Police have arrested a man who was allegedly in possession of a shotgun in front of a Flatiron club last weekend.

Police were informed by witnesses that there was an intoxicated man nearby, possibly armed, in the driver’s seat of his vehicle. Aleksandr Tsoy, 34, was allegedly sitting inside his car while parked in front of Taj Lounge at 48 West 21st Street on Saturday, November 24 at 9:53 p.m.

When officers arrived at the scene, Tsoy was sitting in the driver’s seat with the engine turned on. Police removed Tsoy from the car and found that he allegedly had an odor of alcohol on his breath and bloodshot, watery eyes. A test at the scene determined that Tsoy’s blood alcohol content was 0.10, police said.

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Thirteenth Precinct cop recognized for service

Thirteenth Precinct Commanding Officer Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman, Police Officer John Considine, 13th Precinct Community Council President Frank Scala and 13th Precinct Executive Officer Ernesto Castro (Photo courtesy of the 13th precinct)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

A veteran cop at the 13th Precinct who helped roll out the recently launched community policing program was recognized for his service on Tuesday.

Police Officer John Considine, who has worked for the NYPD for the last 16 years, received the award at the monthly meeting held by the 13th precinct Community Council from Deputy Inspector Steven Hellman, the precinct’s commanding officer.

“This is for all his hard work and for helping with the NCO (Neighborhood Coordinating Officer) rollout, which was a success,” Hellman said. “He’s selfless, hardworking, committed, any good adjectives you can think of, they all describe John,” Hellman added.

Considine has been at the 13th Precinct for his entire tenure so far with the NYPD since starting on patrol in July 2002. After being on patrol, he joined the grand larceny team and later worked with the crime and crime prevention units before joining community affairs.

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Thirteenth Precinct launches neighborhood policing program

Police Officers Manny Rodriguez and Andrew Rodriguez have been assigned to patrol in Stuyvesant Town. (Photo by Maria Rocha-Buschel)

By Maria Rocha-Buschel

A new program aimed at getting police officers better acquainted with members of the community where they patrol launched at the 13th Precinct on Tuesday with NYPD introduced residents to the officers who would be assigned to their blocks.

NYPD’s Chief of Patrol Rodney Harrison emphasized that the new initiative, known as the Neighborhood Coordinating Officer (NCO) program, is aimed at building relationships and is similar to CPOP, a community policing program that the department discontinued about 20 years ago.

Residents at the launch had questions about exactly what kind of problems the NCO officers can help with, and Harrison encouraged everyone at the meeting to get in touch with their NCO officer, whether or not they have a problem.

“The most important thing is that everyone gets home safely to their families,” Harrison said of the program’s goal.

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