By Albert Amateau
The Ninth Precinct honored more than 40 officers and other personnel at the East Village precinct’s annual community council awards event on Oct. 5 at Cooper Union.
The event was also a surprise party for Jerry Shea, who is retiring in June after 10 years as president of the Ninth Precinct Community Council. The award-ceremony cake was in the shape of a mock front page of The Villager, with a headline noting “big changes” are in store at the council, a reference to Shea’s stepping down.
“Ten years is a long time,” said Shea in a telephone interview on Monday. “And I think younger people should take over. It shouldn’t be a lifetime job.”
Detective Larry Young, a 24-year veteran with 15 years in the Ninth Precinct squad, was honored as officer of the year. He was off duty when he confronted two armed robbers on a Brooklyn street where they had just shot an elderly man who was carrying a payroll. Young wounded one of the robbers after exchanging gunfire and went to the aid of the victim, whose life he is credited with saving.
Other members of the precinct were honored as officers of the month.
Officer William Glynn earned a June 2005 recognition award for chasing and apprehending an armed man on E. 14th St. who had just murdered his own brother. Also recognized for June 2005 action were Officers Brendan Gibbons and Rock Pereria, who teamed up to arrest a man for an elaborate identity theft scheme to use altered credit cards.
Officers Edgar Portalatin and Carlos Cosme earned July 2005 awards for chasing and arresting a thief who was fleeing from a strong-arm robbery.
Officer Paul McCann won an August 2005 award for chasing and apprehending two men who had just robbed a man on the street at knifepoint. Also honored for an August 2005 action were Officers Travis Ross and Hugo Navarreette, who chased and arrested a knife-wielding robber who had slashed his victim. The two cops sustained cuts and bruises in the arrest of the suspect, who was convicted of robbery, assault and resisting arrest and was sentenced to 15 years in jail.
Officers John Paone and Neil Pero won a September 2005 award for responding to a knifepoint robbery on E. Fifth St., spotting a suspect who answered the description and arresting the man, who had committed previous robberies in the precinct.
The October 2005 recognition award went to Officers Michael Giuffre and Thomas Gallagher, who responded to a gunpoint robbery of a store on Second Ave. and apprehended the suspect struggling with the owner and two customers outside. The suspect was wanted in eight commercial robberies and two bank robberies.
Sergeant Nicolo Crichigno and Officer Robert Ronne won recognition for a November 2005 action while they were working on the precinct Street Narcotics Enforcement Unit team. A distraught woman on E. Third St. told them she was robbed by a man who stuck what she thought was a gun in her back. Taking the victim with them in their car, the officers drove down Delancey St. where they spotted and arrested the suspect, who is now serving a prison sentence.
Sergeant Dominic Giordano and Officer Jeffrey Murphy were recognized for a December 2005 action in which they found and arrested a man who had made more than 400 911 calls from an Uptown address falsely reporting crimes at an E. Ninth St. building.
Officers Oliver Idol and Germanize Gonzalez won the January 2006 recognition for finding and arresting two teenage members of a gang that had just beaten a man on the street. The suspects later confessed to several robberies in the precinct.
Sergeant Robert Chang and Officer Abraham Fontanez won the February 2006 award for arresting a trespasser in a St. Mark’s Pl. building and investigating further to discover that he had burglarized an apartment in the building.
Detectives David Sarni and Joseph Lombardi received recognition for April 2006 for several arrests, including a crew of four burglars who confessed to eight crimes, an attorney charged with raping a young girl and an armed robbery suspect who confessed to five other crimes.
A May 2006 award went to the precinct Cabaret Squad, consisting of Lieutenant Brian Connolly and Officers Scott Lieneck, Paul Prendergast and Raymond Layden, who responded to a call about a break-in at a synagogue and arrested a burglar on the roof of the building.
Also recognized for a May 2006 action were Officers Joseph Gavin and Vincent Lee, who led people to safety and coordinated activity at an E. Third St. fire despite severe smoke conditions.
The precinct’s First Platoon, which patrols in plainclothes in unmarked cars and on foot during the 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. tour, was honored as a unit for making 129 arrests during the year, 94 of them for felonies, including robbery, burglary, grand larceny, criminal possession of a weapon, assault and narcotics possession. The unit includes Sergeant Dominic Giordano and Officers Jamey Hoffman, Edward McGuigan, Timothy Donohue and Michael Catlin.
Sergeant Elias Miranda, Cabaret Squad supervisor, was recognized as the supervisor of the year. Ninth Precinct civilian employees honored were Lucinda Mitchell and Carlos Onofre. Cadet Timothy Haney, assigned to the precinct for the past 11 months, and members of the precinct Auxiliary, Sergeants Malcolm Raymer, Joseph Sanlei and Officer Manuel Alicia, were also honored.
