By Thomas Tracy
How do you celebrate a homicide-free year? You thank the cops who prevented two homicides from happening. Three cops, a sergeant and a lieutenant were all named “Cops of the Month” Tuesday for two separate gun arrests in December. “These guns could have been used to hurt or kill people,” Captain Michael Kemper, the commanding officer of the 76th Precinct told members of the 76th Precinct Community Council. “But these guns are now off the streets.” The honors came just hours after the NYPD released the year end numbers for the 76th Precinct, which proudly touted the fact that not a single homicide had occurred in Carroll Gardens and Red Hook all year. It was the second time since 2000 that the precinct had ended the year without any homicides, officials recall. When the ball fell in Times Square, felony crime in the 76th Precinct had fallen by nearly 16 percent, with massive dips in burglary reports, muggings and car thefts, according to CompStat figures. Since 1993, when the NYPD first adopted their CompStat system, felony crime in the 76th Precinct has fallen by nearly 64 percent, officials said. Kemper said that the crime reductions fall solely on the efforts of his dedicated officers, as well as the ever-growing relationship between the police and the community. “Day in and day out, every one of these officers come into the precinct with the mindset that they want to make a difference,” Kemper said. “They [the cops] want to rid the place of thugs that bring violence to the community, all the while exhibiting firearms control.” Such control was shown by Police Officer Mark Scarlatelli, who wrestled a gun off a male whose pistol trained on another office, Kemper said. Both Officer Scarlatelli and Sergeant Joshua Foote were named “Cops of the Month” for December for the arrest of the gunman on December 26. Kemper explained that Scarlatelli and Foote were patrolling the area in plain clothes when they spotted a young man acting in a suspicious manner at the footbridge near the corner of Hamilton Avenue and Henry Street. “He and his friend were walking back and forth at the footbridge, which is an area where we have had a good number of robberies,” said Kemper. “He [the suspect] was continually touching a bulge in his waistband.” Scarlatelli and Foote went to question the young man when the suspect pulled a semi-automatic handgun on the sergeant. “[Scarlatelli] could have pulled his gun, but he decided to physically restrain the gunman,” said Kemper. “They got into a physical fight that lasted three to five minutes, and that seems like an eternity when you’re fighting someone with a gun.” The two officers apprehended the man following the fight. The suspect’s friend ran off. Scarlatelli’s name came up again when Kemper honored the next batch of “Cops of the Month.” He, Police Officers Armando Medina and Adnan Moshin and Lieutenant Edward Drivick were all credited for stopping a group of gun-toting thugs – believed to be Bloods members – who were aiming to exact vengeance. Kemper explained that the Lt. Drivick and his officers learned that there were a group of men in a car with a gun on the night of December 16. “[The officers] had heard that they were going to Red Hook to shoot someone,” Kemper said. “They went out looking for this car and they found it at the corner of West 9th Street and Smith Street.” As the officers approached, one of the two men threw a gun from the back seat to the front seat. Cops checked out the car and recovered a 9-mm Luger. The men found inside the car were charged with gun possession, Kemper said.
