Precinct Personnel

 

The personnel assigned to the precinct is as follows:

The Captain
Administrative Lieutenant
Desk Lieutenants
Anti-crime sergeant
Patrol sergeants
Radio motor patrol officers
The Foot patrolman.



The Captain is the boss and has a special office.

The admin Lt runs the precinct and supervises the clerical staff, which includes communications, payroll, roll call and planning.The desk lieutenants are responsible for the 24 hour operation of the precinct.

The Anti-crime sergeant is assigned to supervise plainclothes officers to apprehend serious offenders. Note, this was the best job in the precinct but because they were too effective, the city disbanded them.

The patrol sergeants usually supervise the daily activities of both the RMP (Radio Motor Patrol) and foot patrol officers.

The RMP officers patrol the various sectors in the precinct and respond to all the radio calls for assistance. You name it, they do it.

The foot patrolman is now extinct like the buffalo, but in my day he walked posts and interacted with the Community. He was taken off his post to guard a DOA until the Medical examiner took custody or the body until it was released to a funeral director. Nobody wanted this assignment as you had to search the body, sometimes decomposed, and affix the UF95 tag. Often the foot patrolman flew to other pcts, like the 19th to guard diplomatic embassies, commonly known as fixers.

The foot patrolman was the eyes and ears of the department as he interacted with the community. Often he would be given information about criminal activity by the merchants on his post. As times changed he like the buffalo almost became extinct. As a result of 9-11 he was now assigned to anti-terrorist patrol in Manhattan and the airports and tunnels.

Eventually there would become first a terrorist task force unit of NYPD, FBI, and state investigators. Also a rapid response team was created to handle large protests. So both the foot patrol and also the RMP drivers were reduced from precinct patrol. It’s just a matter of where your priorities are.

There now is a program where off duty officers are employed for security by large corporation. Sadly one officer gave his life recently guarding the NFL headquarters building. As a young girl our Margaret worked in that building. The new mayor now wants to do away with the unit. The former mayor did away with the highly successful anti crime units for political reasons. They were too effective.

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Note: The image is of the cast of Barney Miller, the TV series that my brother considers to be the most realistic depiction of a NYPD precinct.

Assassinations

Assassinations

 

There were three important assassination attempts during this time period.

The first involved two Police officers, Curry and Benedetti of the 26th precinct which is south of the 30th. They were assigned to guard the residence of District Attorney Frank Hogan on Riverside drive. They were machine gunned down but somehow they survived but never were the same. Curry’s older brother was a seasoned homicide detective in the 30th.

Next, the deaths of Patrolman Waverly Jones and Joseph Piagiantini, Greg Foster and Rocco Laurie are similar. The two Black officers were shot in the back of their heads causing instant deaths. Also the were shot because they were Black. The two white officers were shot multiple times in both their testicles and eyes, sending a message. Eyewitness accounts recorded how the two pleaded for their lives.

Now this was the Police Department Pearl Harbor and every officer was on alert. The Chief of Detective mobilized a 100 man task force to hunt down the killers. In the Patrolman Jones and Piagiantini case which occurred in the neighboring 32nd precinct multiple arrests were made and brought to the 30th for interrogation.

As is always the case good old fashioned detective work would lead to the arrests and sometimes the deaths of these killers. I was amazed to learn that one of the killers was a former Marine who had been radicalized. Some of the members of the Black Liberation army actually lived in the 30th.

Now down the street on W. 158th Street and Broadway on December 6, 1971 there was an armed robbery of the Harlem Savings Bank by members of the Black Liberation army. This incident involved a shootout with both a 30th Precinct sergeant and his driver. We the police were now the target as described in deputy commissioner Robert Daley’s book, Target Blue.

No police officer ever considers himself or herself a hero.

The 30th Precinct is located on the west side of upper Manhattan, to the east is the 32nd Precinct. It is lower in topography and called the Valley. One day I had to bring some communications to this Precinct and when you walk in you are humbled immediately, for there are 10 memorial photos of officers who have died in the line of duty. One of the most recent was for a senior officer who used to stop in a liquor store to say good night to the owner. He was shot as the store was being robbed. Sadly he was eligible for retirement. During my 10 years at the 30th Precinct, no office died in the line of duty, also there were no memorial photos.

A check reveals that the 32nd Precinct holds the grim NYC record of 27 police officers killed in the line of duty since 1900.

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