4 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 15, 2018 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
New boss arrives at Bayside-based 111th Precinct
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Th e Bayside-based 111th Precinct has
a new commanding offi cer at the helm.
Captain John Hall offi cially took
over the position on March 5.
Inspector William McBride, the previous
commander, was transferred to
another position within the NYPD’s
Internal Aff airs Bureau.
Hall, a Sunnyside resident, is a
13-year NYPD veteran who has spent
time working in multiple boroughs,
the new commander told QNS in a
March 8 interview. Aft er joining the
force in 2005, he served as an offi cer
in West Harlem, a narcotics detective
in Manhattan south, a sergeant in the
Bronx and a special projects lieutenant
in Chinatown.
Hall attended the Harvard Kennedy
School of Government on a job scholarship
from 2013 to 2014 and then
joined the Bronx’s 48th and 49th precincts
as an executive offi cer. He arrived
to the 111th Precinct aft er a fi ve-month
stint at the Police Commissioner’s
Offi ce, where he was assigned to the
Neighborhood Policing Strategy Group.
Th e captain also worked as an executive
offi cer at the 111th Precinct, which
covers areas of Bayside, Douglaston and
Little Neck, for the previous six months.
During this time he gained a familiarity
with the command.
“I’ve worked in a whole bunch of different
settings,” he said.
Th e 111th Precinct will offi cially roll
out the new Neighborhood Policing
program — which is being phased
in at each precinct in the city — on
Woman struck, killed
by school bus in K.G.
BY EMILY DAVENPORT
edavenport@qns.com / @QNS
A woman died aft er being hit by a school
bus while crossing a Kew Gardens street on
Tuesday morning, police reported.
At 6:43 a.m. on March 13, law enforcement
sources said, 58-year-old Elise Hellinger was
crossing 82nd Road when a school bus, which
was driving down Kew Gardens Road, turned
onto 82nd Road and struck the woman.
Offi cers from the 102nd Precinct and EMS
units responded responded to the scene.
Paramedics pronounced Hellinger dead at
the location.
Th e bus driver remained at the scene following
the incident. Th e investigation is
ongoing.
April 1. It will be divided into four
sectors (A-D) that correspond to the
command’s established neighborhood
boundary lines.
Each sector will have two designated
neighborhood coordination offi -
cers (NCOs), who will serve as liaisons
between the police and the community.
Additionally, the same offi cers will
work in the same neighborhoods on the
same shift s.
Th e comprehensive plan is meant
to strengthen the connection between
NYPD offi cers and the local community
through a more community
based approach to policing. Hall,
who had a hand in developing the
department-wide program, said the
implementation will “change the way
patrol offi cers view patrol.”
“Basically, we’re re-orienting patrol
so that these guys that are handling the
911 calls have geographic responsibility
for diff erent areas of the command,” he
said. “I think when you give the patrol
cops a face to the problem — so it’s not
just a call, something that comes on a
screen — I think it’s more motivating.”
Quarterly “Build the Block” meetings
will also be held in each of the sectors,
providing “a good venue for neighborhood
specifi c complaints,” Hall said.
Before he arrived at the 111th, Hall
researched the precinct and the crime
that impacts the command.
“I wanted to hit the ground running,”
he said. “I looked at old newspaper articles,
looked at all the crime stats — you
can’t just be guided by stats, though.”
Burglaries and quality-of-life concerns
are high on Hall’s radar.
“My primary concern, always, will be
reducing crime,” he said. “Right now,
we’re up in burglaries. It has slowed
down, but at the end of last year, there
was a little spike. We only had two burglaries
last week, but two is two burglaries
too many, as far as I’m concerned.”
Hall also went through the precinct’s
historical 311 complaints,
where he found many were related to
quality of life.
“A lot of them are parking-related
— with the derelict vehicles, people
leaving their cars with the plates
on or off — throughout the precinct,”
he said. “Th at’s a challenge that I also
faced in the Bronx.”
In his fi rst days on the job, Hall was
presented a list of all the community
groups in the area and their leaders. He
looks forward to meeting each of them.
“If you hear the police commissioner
James O’Neill, he always says that,
‘Public safety is a shared responsibility,’”
Hall said. “Th at’s something that this
community clearly already knows, even
if it hasn’t been explicitly said. I want to
meet all of these community leaders.
It’s amazing how many there are.”
Photo via Google Maps
The Whitestone Library at 151-10 14th Rd.
Whitestone branch
of Queens Library
to close temporarily
BY SUZANNE MONTEVERDI
smonteverdi@qns.com / @smont76
Th e Queens Library’s Whitestone branch
will be shut for a short time to make way for
some substantial repairs.
Whitestone Library, located at 151-10 14th
Rd., will close to the public on March 17
for approximately two weeks, according to
Queens Library spokeswoman Elisabeth de
Bourbon.
During this time, interior repairs and
abatement of asbestos tiles will be conducted
in preparation for a subsequent masonry
construction project.
Th e location will re-open in the fi rst week
of April. During the two-week closure, residents
can visit the following libraries in
neighboring communities:
• Auburndale Library: 25-55 Francis Lewis
Blvd.; 718-352-2027
• Bay Terrace Library: 18-36 Bell Blvd.; 718-
423-7004
• Poppenhusen Library: 121-23 14th Ave.;
718-359-1102
Th e forthcoming masonry project will
repair water damage and cracks to the
masonry exterior of the building. It will continue
through July 2018 and cost approximately
$170,000.
Some other improvement projects for the
site are currently in the pipeline: in last
year’s participatory budget vote in District
19, the library was selected to undergo a
$100,000 technology upgrade. Th e project
will bring upgrades including computers
and smartboards to the site.
In 2016, Assemblyman Edward Braunstein
allocated $500,000 to cover the cost of
replacing the roof. Additional funding will
be required to begin the project, de Bourbon
noted, as roof replacement projects typically
cost between $900,000 and $1 million.
Queens Library manages nearly one million
square feet of library space in 65 locations
throughout the borough. Th ere are
currently nearly 100 active capital projects
being conducted at Queens Library branches.
For more information, visit the Queens
Library website at www.queenslibrary.org.
Photo by Phil Mackie/RHS NEWS
Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi/QNS
Captain John Hall
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