BY LINCOLN ANDERSON | Police Commissioner Bill Bratton was the keynote speaker at the 12th annual Greenwich Village – Chelsea Chamber of Commerce (GVCCC) Safe Streets Safe Cities awards on Dec. 17, honoring several NYPD officers for their heroism during the past year.
Bratton, in fact, had been scheduled to speak at last year’s event, but Black Lives Matter activists got wind he would be there, and announced they would be protesting. The activists showed up in numbers, and staged a die-in on the sidewalk in front of the venue, Manhattan Penthouse (W. 14th St. & Fifth Ave.), but Bratton was a no-show.
Making good on his word to address the chamber, Bratton headlined last week’s awards event, speaking, in particular, about what the police are doing to help address the city’s current homelessness crisis.
The top cop said that while there are around 50,000 homeless people in the city, the number actually living on the streets is around 5,000. He announced that all the city’s police officers will be getting four hours of training on how to deal with the street homeless, and will be instructed on the nuances of the law pertaining to them. To give one example, Bratton said, a person legally can lie on the sidewalk, but if he or she has a box, it can be considered an illegal abode.
In the Officer of the Year awards, from Chelsea’s 10th Precinct, Scott Williams received the prestigious honor for the second year in a row. A member of the precinct’s anti-crime unit since 2009, Williams made one of his most notable arrests this past September.
Williams, along with Special Operations Lieutenant Peter Benekos, was working on a borough-wide crime pattern involving a three-man team that had pulled 21 bank robberies over a five-week period. Williams and Benekos observed an individual, who matched one of the suspect’s descriptions from a wanted poster, peering inside the People’s United Bank (at W. 18th St. & Seventh Ave.). They followed the suspect for several blocks, watching him as he looked into the windows of several different banks.
When the man arrived at the Capital One bank (at W. 17th St. & Eighth Ave.), he met up with two other individuals. The trio cased the bank, then began changing their clothes to outfits that matched their description from prior bank robberies, at which time the two cops arrested them without incident.
Representing the 13th Precinct, covering Gramercy, Stuyvesant Town/Peter Cooper Village and part of Rosehill, Thomas Knudsen was named the Officer of the Year. This year, Knudsen made 66 arrests, including busting two individuals wanted for multiple robberies inside a public housing development.
At the Midtown South Precinct, the Officers of the Year were Lauren O’Rourke and Geraldo Casaigne. On May 13, they were patrolling on Eighth Ave. when they observed a suspect wanted for several assaults with a hammer within the precinct. They followed him to the corner of W. 37th St., where O’Rourke instructed him to remove his right hand from his pocket. The suspect immediately whipped out the hammer and chased her into the intersection, striking her with the weapon on her upper back and shoulder area. Seeing his partner in danger, Casaigne reacted in a split second, shooting the man four times at close range, striking him twice. The assailant was declared dead at Bellevue Hospital.
Anthony Gonzalez was the Officer of the Year winner from Greenwich Village’s Sixth Precinct. Officer Gonzalez was recognized for two arrests. On Jan. 18, he quickly responded to a radio run regarding a purse snatching. He placed the victim in his car, and, with her, canvassed the area for the two suspects — who he found and arrested.
In the second arrest, on Sept. 6, Gonzalez was on foot patrol in the Meatpacking District, when he was informed by a worker at the Jane hotel that three males were smoking marijuana in a car around the corner. The officer responded and noticed a spent bullet shell casing in the car. Examining the vehicle more closely, he spotted a 9mm firearm on the back seat. The three males were quickly arrested, preventing a possible serious crime from occurring.
There were two honorees from the East Village’s Ninth Precinct. Officer Ruby Chau has made 27 arrests so far this year. One of these involved the recovery of a 9mm handgun from inside a vehicle on Avenue C, where a violent felon was arrested in an area where shootings had been spiking in the precinct. Chau’s hard work and dedication earned a spot on the precinct’s day-tour anti-crime team.
Also from the Ninth, Officer Joaquin Sepulveda, has made 49 arrests so far this year. The 12-year Police Department veteran previously worked in the Narcotics Division in the Bronx, and has been assigned to the precinct the past three years. Over his career, he has taken a number of violent individuals off the streets — including seven who were armed with guns at the time of their arrest. Sepulveda is currently assigned to the precinct’s late-tour anti-crime team.
Mathew Heggem and Maria Diaz, the GVCCC board president and executive director, respectively, in a message from the chamber, said, “Now well into our 66th year, the chamber understands the impact that a thriving business community can have on its local economy. But this community cannot succeed without individuals who selflessly protect our storefronts, keep our employees safe to and from the office, and provide a peaceful neighborhood to call home after a long day’s hard work. The Safe Streets Safe City awards is our chance, on behalf of the local business community, to extend our sincerest gratitude to law enforcement. We were especially honored to have New York City Police Commissioner as this year’s guest speaker.”
