Downtown Alliance Honors 12 Public Safety Officers

Twelve Downtown Alliance Public Safety Officers were honored Tuesday for helping to keep Lower Manhattan one of the safest areas in New York City.

“You have made Lower Manhattan a far more inviting place to be, whether finding a missing 8-year-old girl near Castle Clinton, rescuing someone who’s fallen to the R-train tracks, detaining a homeless person reported to be dangerous, or helping NYPD officers enforce the City’s vending laws,” Robert R. Douglass, Chairman of the Downtown Alliance, said at the annual Alliance for Downtown New York luncheon at Moran’s Restaurant and Bar. “Thanks for another great year.”

You can view more photos from the event on the Downtown Alliance’s Flickr page at http://www.flickr.com/photos/downtownny/sets/72157626515606567/

The 57-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 12 years ago.

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

April 6, 2010 – Frank Dell’Alba was recognized for assisting an NYPD officer and an MTA worker in removing an intoxicated man from the train tracks of the R-line. The man was taken to Bellevue Hospital.

June 26, 2010 – Stephen Lefkowitz was recognized for notifying the NYPD about unlawful vending at a bus stop at Morris Street and Broadway. The vendor refused to leave, and so Lefkowitz notified the NYPD’s First Precinct. A computer check revealed three outstanding warrants.

June 30, 2010 – Donnell Stevens was recognized for notifying the NYPD after he saw a man – who was being chased by security personnel – toss stolen items over a fence into a construction site. The man was arrested by the First Precinct.

July 22, 2010 – Jeison Hidalgo and Rosa Williams were recognized for reuniting a lost 8-year-old girl with her grandmother after the girl went missing near Castle Clinton in Battery Park.

August 6, 2010 – Jason Rivera, Shawn Soto, Denise Blackwell, Donnell Stevens, Jose Matias, Jonathan Molina, and Joseph Cuadrado were recognized for detaining a reportedly violent homeless man after a woman reported his actions. NYPD arrived and took the man to Bellevue Hospital.

October 16, 2010 – Jerry Marcus and Jason Rivera were recognized after assisting members of the NYPD’s Scooter Task Force to chase down a man suspected of illegal vending near the World Trade Center.