Downtown Alliance Honors 11 Public Safety Officers

Eleven Downtown Alliance Public Safety Officers were honored Monday for helping to keep Lower Manhattan one of the safest areas in NewYork City.

“Whether they were preventing an assault, catching car thieves or even returning a lost $5,000 lottery check, this year’s honorees served the Downtown community with honor and integrity,” Robert R. Douglass, the Downtown Alliance’s Chairman, said at the 14th annual Alliance for Downtown New York luncheon at Moran’s Restaurant and Bar.

You can view more photos from the event on the Downtown Alliance’s Flickr page. The 63-person staff – recognizable by their distinctive red uniforms – patrols Lower Manhattan’s streets every day. They check in with neighborhood businesses, provide visitors and residents with friendly directions and aid, and assist the New York City Police Department. Criminal activity in Lower Manhattan has dropped considerably since the Downtown Alliance and NYPD began working together 11 years ago.

For example, crimes against persons – murder, rape, robbery and felony assault – averaged just 0.20 per day – less than half of the rate in 1999 when the Alliance and NYPD began working together. Similarly, property crimes – burglary, grand larceny and grand larceny auto – dropped from 4.49 a day in 1999 to 1.58 in 2009.

Several officers received multiple awards for their actions. The awards were presented – in chronological order – for their actions on the following dates:

February 3, 2009 – On above date Safety Officer Angel Valle (of the Bronx) and Supervisor Sylvia Albert (of Brooklyn) were on patrol in a car when they observed a fight in front of One Liberty Plaza. They then saw a man chasing a young man north on Broadway, while a second man held another man against a wall by 1 Liberty Plaza. Valle and Albert approached the remaining pair, and discovered that one had been assaulted in an attempt to take his jacket. Valle and a Security Officer from One Liberty held the alleged assailant while Albert called for the NYPD, which arrested the man. The other was not found at the time.

March 16, 2009 – Officer Luis Soto (of the Bronx) jumped into action when he saw a three-car hit-and-run accident, running to the scene and checking for injuries. He called in information that the driver of one car had run from the scene, then combed the area, noting the individual in a nearby building Soto notified authorities, who arrested the man – who’d been driving a stolen car.

May 12, 2009 – Officer Ray Williams (of the Bronx) was on patrol when a woman tripped in a pothole and fell. Williams called dispatch, and Officer Jashaun Frasier (of Manhattan) arrived to help, assisting the woman to the sidewalk. They stayed with her until an ambulance arrived to take her to Downtown Beekman Hospital. May 18, 2009 – Officer Stephen Lefkowitz (of Brooklyn) found an envelope with a winning $5,000 lottery check inside. He called Supervisor Sylvia Albert (of Brooklyn).
Lefkowitz coincidentally ran into two senior citizens who said they’d won lottery money, so he and Albert took them to a lottery headquarters – to ensure the check was being returned to its rightful owners – so they could claim the money.

June 29, 2009 – Officer Frank Dell'Alba (of Brooklyn) was on patrol when a man reported that an individual was hitting a woman at Maiden Lane and Broadway. Dell'Alba ran to the location, prompting NYPD officers to ask him what was happening. He relayed the tip; the three then came across the woman, who pointed out her attackers, who was subsequently arrested.

August 26, 2009 – Officers Shawn Soto (of Queens), Frasier, and Kevin Reid (of Brooklyn), and Supervisor German Rosario (of Manhattan) responded to the Battery Park Garage to assist NYPD in securing all exits of the garage while they searched for a man who was breaking into cars. The man was arrested.

September 10, 2009 – Officers Soto and Reid and Supervisor Rosario spotted a Foot Locker employee chasing an alleged shoplifter at Fulton Street and Ryders Alley. The officers cornered the man and called the NYPD, who came to arrest him.

November 27, 2009 – Officers Valle and Lyudmila Melnik (of Manhattan) saw a man dart away from two NYPD officers who’d stopped his car, running on Park Row toward Broadway. The police drove after the man while Valle placed his van in front of vehicle to safeguard for police. Valle stayed with the car until NYPD responded, while Melnik took off on foot after the man until the NYPD arrested him.