By Michael Morton
“All I ask is that you meet me half way until we get to know each other,” said Deputy Inspector Thomas Manzolillo, who officially took the commander's mantle from Deputy Inspector Michael Bryan on Feb. 9. Manzolillo previously commanded the 106th Precinct in Ozone Park. Capt. John O. Doherty is now head of the 106th.
Earlier in his career Manzolillo served as executive officer of the 105th, and a police officer familiar with his work said the new commander is known for cutting down crime wherever he goes. The officer pointed out, however, that crime remains low in the 105th Precinct compared to other city precincts.
Bryan, who served as the 105th's commander for slightly more than two years, has moved to Queens Patrol Borough South's headquarters to become the special projects inspector. He thanked the community for their support during his tenure.
The 105th Precinct stretches along the Nassau border from Glen Oaks through Queens Village to Laurelton, Springfield Garden and Rosedale.
Although no longer in charge of the 105th Precinct, Bryan still conducted the meeting, held monthly to give the community a chance to voice their concerns to local police.
During the public speaking time, a woman said thieves had stolen her father's 2003 Range Rover more than a week before on 76th Avenue near Schneider Children's Hospital, part of Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park. The woman, Sinita Kishun of Richmond Hill, said she spent six hours at the hospital and when she returned, the car was gone.
She said she has since realized that “any hospital could be a supermarket for high-end vehicles.”
Bryan acknowledged that patients and visitors at the hospital do have their cars stolen occasionally from nearby streets.
“From time to time we do get a rash of vehicles taken from Long Island Jewish,” he said. Police from the 105th Precinct believe the cars have been stolen by professional criminals, who know their victims will be away from their vehicles for hours and sometimes even take the cars during the day, Bryan said. The 105th suspects the automobiles are then shipped overseas, he said.
“Some of them are recovered, many of them aren't,” Bryan said, adding that officers frequently have been sent on special patrols to the area but have usually come back empty-handed.
“It's very frustrating,” he said.
Bryan also presented the awards for Cop of the Month for two separate incidents.
In the first, James Phillips from the 105th and several officers from the police force in Hempstead, L.I. were honored for their roles in finding an abducted child in November. The child had been left by his mother in her car with the engine running outside a restaurant in Jamaica when a man jumped in and took off.
Ten hours later Phillips found the 2-year-old unhurt inside the car in Hempstead, thanks to cooperation between the two police departments, which Bryan called unprecedented.
Bryan presented the other award to Officer Joseph Marinello and Sgt. Brian Burke for their effort in arresting three burglary suspects in Queens Village in December. At the time, Bryan said police believed the trio had been targeting a number of homes in the area belonging to South Asians. Responding to a 911 call, Marinello and Burke spotted two of the suspects and chased them down before they could climb over a fence.
Marinello has been with the 105th for three years, Burke about 2 1/2, and Phillips about one, police said.
Reach reporter Michael Morton by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by calling 718-229-0300, Ext. 154.
