Kelly Introduces Pizzuti To 115th, 110th Precincts
BY LIZ GOFF

Patrol Borough Queens North Commanding Officer Assistant Chief Diana Pizzuti.

Patrol Borough Queens North Commanding Officer Assistant Chief Diana Pizzuti made her debut as the borough's top cop on March 20, meeting and greeting cops and residents of Jackson Heights, Corona and Elmhurst.

Cops at the 115th Precinct were "shined and polished" to welcome Pizzuti to the March meeting of the precinct Community Council, where she wowed the crowd with a description of her extensive NYPD background, which included stints at the 100th, 103rd, 105th, 108th and 112th Precincts. The audience applauded and nodded in approval when they learned Pizzuti was a fellow Queens resident who spent 15 years living in Long Island City and Forest Hills.

Pizutti addressed the crowd on the importance of women in today's society, and then turned her attention to honors for cops at the Northern Boulevard stationhouse.

Sergeant Joseph Tarsio and Police Officers James Girdusky and Bret Huzar accepted "Cop Of The Month" awards from Pizutti and the Community Council for their February 13 arrest of three burglary suspects. The trio had a fully loaded .38-caliber handgun and $30,000 in cash in their possession when the cops caught them in the act.

Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly was on hand to greet Pizutti and introduce her at a March 21 Police Recognition Ceremony for cops at the 110th Precinct. The ceremony at the New York Hall of Science in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was dedicated to the memory of NYPD Auxiliary Officers Nicholas Pekearo and Eugene Marshalik, who were murdered by a deranged gunman in Greenwich Village in early March.

Kelly and Pizzuti officiated at Cop Of The Month presentations to officers at the Elmhurst stationhouse, including Lieutenant Edward Rutter and Sergeant Brian Basile, whose cop sense aided detectives tracking down the suspects in a homicide and a string of assaults in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.

Other awards went to Police Officers Raymond Salamone, Gerard Leonard, Byron Visquerra, Eric Eng, Paul Hurdle, Jose Bricena, Neil Jaggermauth, John Portalatin, William Brado and Nicholas Marciano; Sergeants Thomas Pasola and Charles Minch for their apprehension of suspects in a series of high-profile crimes in the precinct area.

The Community Council 2006 Supervisor of the Year award was presented to Sergeant Andrew Leeb for his "tireless work at the 110th Precinct". The 2006 Police Officer of the Year award was presented to Officer Keith Penney, who set a record with 75 arrests and 3,000 summonses over the course of the year.

Kelly and Pizzuti joined in the presentation of a special "Civilian of the Year" award to Elmhurst resident Thea Sevastos, who was cited for her tireless efforts on behalf of police at the 110th Precinct.

Kelly urged the audience to spread word of the NYPD "No Questions Asked" program designed to get illegal guns off the streets. The program offers $1,000 to anyone who surrenders unlicensed guns to police at local precincts, Kelly said. Under the program, participants receive a code number that they use to collect the reward money at a bank participating in the program with the NYPD.

"Police officers face great danger on the street day after day," Kelly said. "We hope this program will encourage the surrender of illegal weapons that could be used against police officers."