Three Brooklyn-based cops were recognized by the commanding officer of the 111th Precinct in Bayside for helping take over 70 illegal firearms out of the neighborhood last month.
Captain John Hall presented the Cop of the Month Award to Sergeant Forrest Hirsch and Police Officers James McSherry and George Kurian of the 81st Precinct during latest 111th Precinct Community Council meeting on May 1.
The police officers, part of the 81st Precinct Field Intelligence Unit, developed information to obtain a search warrant for the home of Ronald Drabman, 60, located on 208th Street.
While executing the search warrant on April 15, they found and recovered 45 rifles, assault rifles, shotguns, 23 handguns, one zip gun, two .177-caliber pellet guns and a tens of thousands of rounds of live ammunition.
Officers arrested Drabman on 109 counts of criminal possession of a weapon, one count of unlawful possession of an ammo feed device and one count of criminal possession of a controlled substance, according to Queens District Attorney Richard A. Brown. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
Drabman does not have a firearms license and is not a gun dealer, prosecutors noted. He is not licensed to sell or to manufacture firearms or ammunition.
“[The field intelligence officers] did all the processing here. We were in touch with them the whole time,” Hall said. “That was a great arrest and it definitely contributed to the public safety of this neighborhood.
“I don’t know all the details of the case. I don’t know what [Drabman] was planning on doing with [the stockpile],” Hall continued. “But it’s just good to know that the firearms are no longer in the neighborhood.”
