Changes At the 114th Precinct

Not long ago, we came across some reporting by QNS.com about changes to the 114th Precinct—specifically how they will dispatch officers around our little corner of Queens. For a while, the precinct—which patrols Astoria, Long Island City, Woodside, and Jackson Heights—was conceived as 13 sections; now it has been broken up into four. Here is the breakdown:

Sector A

• Astoria Boulevard South to 37th Avenue; Steinway Street to the BQE
• Patrolled by neighborhood coordination officers Mariusz Krala and Thomas Lewandowski.
• Reach them at mariusz.krala@nypd.org and thomas.lewandowski@nypd.org

Sector B

• 19th Avenue to Astoria Boulevard North; 20th Avenue to Hoyt Avenue North; Shore Boulevard to 81st Street
• Patrolled by neighborhood coordination officers Apostolos Masoudridis and Monique Holly will patrol the area.
• Reach them at apostolos.masoudridis@nypd.org and monique.holly@nypd.org

Sector C

• Astoria Boulevard South to Northern Boulevard; Hoyt Avenue South to Northern Boulevard; east side of Steinway Street to 21st Street
• Patrolled by neighborhood coordination officers Borys Bedoya and Carl Ferraro
• Reach them at borys.bedoya@nypd.org and carl.ferraro@nypd.org

Sector D

• Astoria Park South to Queens Plaza North; west side of 21st Street to Main Street
• Patrolled by neighborhood coordination officers Keith Matthes and Joseph Esposito will patrol the area
• Reach them at keith.matthes@nypd.org and joseph.esposito@nypd.org

Particularly interesting is what Captain Peter Fortune, the commanding officer of the 114th Precinct, said, that “the NYPD will be pulling officers from specialized units such as anti-crime, traffic and domestic violence and assigning them to specific sectors to foster relationships with community members.”

The neighborhood coordination officers (NCOs) will have more contact with folks that live in the neighborhood—they are beat officers, essentially—who will “patrol the same streets to identify crime patterns and address quality-of-life issues. The officers will also patrol the areas on bicycle and foot so that they are not confined to vehicles all day.” Captain Fortune himself handpicked all the NCOs and has the utmost confidence in their ability to build better relationships with the community and handle quality of life issues. They’ve also been trained in mediation and conflict resolution, among other appropriate skills.

This approach has been implemented elsewhere in the city with very positive results. We look forward to seeing how it works out in Astoria.

Astoria: Meet the new beat officers assigned to your streets [QNS]