FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM OCTOBER 5, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 11
Meet the new boss at the helm of the 114th Precinct
BY ANGELA MATUA
amatua@qns.com / @AngelaMatua
Th ere’s a new boss in charge at Astoria’s
114th Precinct.
Captain Osvaldo Nunez, a 22-year veteran
of the NYPD, offi cially took over for
former Captain Peter Fortune on Sept. 25.
Nunez joined the force in 1996
and worked for the 33rd Precinct in
Washington Heights. He was there for
fi ve-and-a-half years before being promoted
to sergeant and transferring to the
46th and 44th precincts in the Bronx.
He also served as a special operations
lieutenant in charge of teams like the anticrime
unit and street narcotics and nightlife
enforcement. Aft er 14 years on patrol,
four years working on the Bronx narcotics
team and a stint as captain and executive
offi cer of the 46th Precinct, he was
called up to work at the Joint Operations
Center.
At the center, the NYPD monitors
“heavy jobs,” Nunez said. Th ese jobs
range from shootings, barricaded events,
emotionally disturbed persons, air, sea
and water rescues and large-scale demonstrations.
“It was a great opportunity,” he said. “It
was my fi rst time working at a macro level
where I was actually seeing the department
at 30,000 feet.”
But aft er almost three years, Nunez
wanted to get back on the street so he was
transferred to the 114th Precinct.
“Th is is my fi rst time working in
Queens,” he said. “I hear great things
about the 114th. It’s one of the most
diverse precincts in the city and I keep
hearing what great places there are to eat
here.”
Nunez said he’s still trying to catch up
and “absorb as much information about
the neighborhood as I can.”
He said the department will focus on
quality-of-life issues like noise complaints
from construction and nightclubs.
Th e precinct has closed 11 license premise
locations since 2015, he said.
“Crime can be down dramatically and
they don’t care because what they care
about someone is not picking up aft er
their dog or the bar down the street is
making too much noise so I understand
that and that’s why quality-of-life stuff is
so important,” he said.
Nunez also touted the Neighborhood
Coordination Offi cer (NCO) program,
which was rolled out last October. Th e
community now has easier access to each
NCO since the department issued cellphones
to each offi cer so they could speak
directly with residents.
“Th at person, instead of calling 311 and
getting routed to some big call center in
downtown Manhattan, they can actually
call the offi cer assigned to their post,”
he said.
Th e captain grew up in East New York,
Brooklyn “during the crack wars of the
early ’80s and the late ’70s,” he said.
Nunez also lived across the street from
the 75th Precinct and went to high school
near 1 Police Plaza, which spurred him to
join the force.
“Living across the street from the precinct,
seeing the cops running out of the
parking lot, I saw the camaraderie cops
had and that was something I wanted to
be a part of,” he said.
Nunez attended his fi rst 114th Precinct
Community Council meeting on Sept. 26
where he met community members and
elected offi cials and is looking to meet
more.
“I’m happy to be here and I look forward
to working with the community,”
he said. “It’s a welcome change of scenery.”
Photo by Angela Matua/THE COURIER
Captain Osvaldo Nunez joined the 114th Precinct on Sept. 25.
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